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Abstract
This article draws on data from one-to-one interviews with members and former members of the Ulster Volunteer Force, Ulster Defence Association, Red Hand Commando, Ulster Political Research Group, and the Progressive Unionist Party to explore the dynamic and fluid perceptions of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Sinn Féin among Ulster loyalists. The article will explore how attitudes and perceptions are influenced by the shifting political landscape in Northern Ireland as Ulster loyalists come to terms with the new realities created by the peace process, security normalization, decommissioning, and the rise in the threat of dissident republican violence. The article will also demonstrate that these perceptions are not purely antagonistic and based on the creation of negative, stereotypical “enemy images” fuelled by decades of conflict, but pragmatic, bound to societal and local events, and influenced by intragroup attitudes and divisions, in addition to the expected conflictual ingroup vs. outgroup relationships. Finally, the article will explore how loyalists employ republicanism and the transformation of the Provisional IRA in particular, as a mirror or benchmark to reflect on their own progress since 1994.
Notes
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Additional information
Notes on contributors
James W. McAuley
James W. McAuley (PhD, Leeds) is Professor of Political Sociology and Irish Studies and Director of the Institute for Research in Citizenship and Applied Human Sciences at the University of Huddersfield. His main areas of interest and research are political sociology, political violence, and the state.
Neil Ferguson
Neil Ferguson (DPhil, Ulster) is Professor of Political Psychology at Liverpool Hope University. His research and writings deal with moral development and a number of topics located within political psychology, with a particular focus on Northern Ireland.