Creating suspect communities: Exploring the use of exclusion orders in Northern Ireland

Abstract

The notion of a ‘suspect community’ was originally developed by Paddy Hillyard to describe the categorization and treatment of Irish people in Great Britain during the 1970s and 1980s. More recently the concept has been linked to the Muslim community. Recent reports have highlighted the stigmatizing and alienating effect of the government's strategy to prevent violent extremism in the Muslim community, prompting a number of academic commentators to explore the potential construction of the Muslim community as a ‘suspect community’. The revival of the suspect community thesis and its contested nature provide a timely opportunity to reflect on its construction. This paper draws on evidence from a case study from Northern Ireland to explore the way in which the Republican/Nationalist community became constructed as a suspect community during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. It traces the steps involved in constructing a suspect community. Drawing on evidence from individuals who were excluded, it presents the personal experience of what it means to be designated a member of a suspect community. Finally it explores the consequences of such a security decision. It draws on evidence from the counter-terrorism strategy of exclusion orders introduced under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 1974 to inform the argument.

Keywords:

• exclusion orders
• Prevention of Terrorism Act
• suspect community

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Prof Bill Rolston for his comments on early incarnations of this work.