Explaining violent dissident Republican breakaway through deviant cohesion

ABSTRACT

The accepted knowledge concerning dissident splits from the Provisional IRA is that different groups or individuals broke away because of their disagreement with the political progresses made during the peace process. This paper will argue that other factors were at play. Primarily, that ‘deviant’ cohesion played a significant role. While the question of politicialisation offers significant insight into the political dimension of this split, this article will adopt a more sociological approach. Answers provided through this sociological perspective are not intended to undermine the political explanation, rather to build upon them and provide a more holistic understanding of the issue.

KEYWORDS:

• Northern Ireland
• group fragmentation
• Republicanism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Frampton, “The Return of the Militants.”

2. “New IRA: Full Statement by the Dissident Army Council.” The Guardian. Accessed Jul 26, 2012. https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jul/26/ira-northern-ireland-dissident-republican-groups1?intcmp=239.

3. Edwards, “When Terrorism as Strategy Fails.”

4. Óglaigh na hÉireann is the name used by the majority of militant groups within Irish republicanism, including the Irish Defence Forces. It translates to ‘soldiers of Ireland’.

5. “Real’ Irish Republican Army (rIRA) Easter Statement.” Accessed April 13, 2009. https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/othelem/organ/ira/rira130409.htm

6. Guelke, “Britain After Brexit.”

7. Mahoney, “Splinters and schisms.”

8. Whiting, Spoiling the peace? 3

9. Horgan and Morrison, “Here to Stay?” 647

10. English, “The Future of Terrorism Studies.”

11. Hansen, “Unity Under Allah.”

12. Whiting, Spoiling the peace? 7; and Frampton, “The Return of the Militants.”

13. Horgan, Divided We Stand.

14. Whiting, Spoiling the peace? 146–147.

15. Tonge, “They Haven’t Gone Away You Know.”

16. Whiting, Spoiling the peace? 7.

17. Moskos, “The American Combat Soldier in Vietnam.”

18. Siebold, “The Essence of Military Group Cohesion,”; and Wong et al., Why they fight: combat motivation in the Iraq war.

19. Moskos, “The American Combat Soldier,” 29.

20. Ibid., 33–34.

21. Ibid., 34–35.

22. Ibid., 37.

23. Ibid.

24. Ibid., 26.

25. Ibid., 34.

26. Henderson, The human element in combat, 34-35; Higate, “Men, masculinities and fratriarchy”; Schneider, Banholzer, and Albarracin, “Ordered Rape” and Winslow, The Canadian Airborne Regiment.

27. King, The combat soldier, 32–33.

28. Ibid., 73.

29. Nietzel and Welzer, Soldaten-On Fighting, Killing and Dying, 31.

30. Shils and Janwitz, Cohesion and disintegration in the Wehrmacht in World War II.”

31. Nietzel and Welzer, Soldaten-On Fighting, Killing and Dying 248–249.

32. Burke, An Army of Tribes, 5.

33. Ibid, 27.

34. Finnegan, “Professionalization of a Nonstate Actor.”

35. Staniland, Networks of Rebellion.

36. Malešević, The Sociology of War and Violence

37. Morrison, The Origins and Rise of Dissident Irish Republicanism, 19

38. Ibid., 31.

39. Mahoney, “Splinters and Schisms.” 479.

40. Edwards, “When Terrorism as Strategy Fails,”; Horgan and Morrison, “Here to Stay?; and Tonge, “They Haven’t Gone Away, You Know.”. Irish Republican “Dissidents” And ‘Armed Struggle.’

41. Whiting, Spoiling the peace?: and The threat of dissident Republicans to peace in Northern Ireland, 15.

42. Frampton, “The Return of the Militants,” 5.

43. Collins, Rules of Engagement, 47.

44. Moloney, 243.

45. Oppenheimer, IRA, the bombs and the bullets: A history of deadly ingenuity 19.

46. Dnes and Brownlow, “The formation of terrorist groups: an analysis of Irish republican organizations,” 708–9.

47. Hansen, “Unity under Allah? Cohesion mechanisms in Jihadist organizations in Africa,” 7.

48. Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA, 158.

49. Morrison. The origins and rise of dissident Irish Republicanism, 172–173.

50. Ibid., 158.

51. Frampton, “The Return of the Militants,” 18.

52. Horgan and Gill, “Here to Stay? The rising threat of violent dissident Republicanism in Northern Ireland.”

53. Morrison, The origins and rise of dissident Irish Republicanism, 150.

54. Ibid., 150.

55. Ibid., 151.

56. Moloney, A Secret History of the IRA, 479.

57. Frampton, “The Return of the Militants,” 13

58. Tonge, They Haven’t Gone Away, You Know’. Irish Republican ‘Dissidents’ And ‘Armed Struggle.” 682

59. Frampton, “The Return of the Militants,”; and Morrison, The Origins and Rise of Dissident Irish Republicanism

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Patrick Finnegan

Patrick Finnegan is an Associate Lecturer (education focused) in Strategic Studies at the University of St Andrews in the School of International Relations.