The Parties to the Conflict

Abstract

The parties to political debate in Ulster are not the organizations familiar to American or British politicians. While some organize to advance their aims by winning votes at elections, others use violence and are organized to do everything from providing armed defense of communities to carrying out assassinations and bombings. A few groups do both. These are dual-purpose movements, with one wing concentrating on electoral politics and another on violent politics. There are also protest groups that move back and forth in the shadowy world between what is formally legal and formally illegal.

A fundamental problem since the earliest years of Northern Ireland’s existence has been the disagreement not just about how Northern Ireland should be governed, but as to whether it should continue to exist at all.

British Government White Paper, 1973