Recent Book: Will it Never End?: Ulster: A Decade of Violence
| Published date | 01 January 1980 |
| Date | 01 January 1980 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X8005300114 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
RECENT BOOKS
WILLIT
NEVER
END?
PETER
JANKE:
ULSTER: A decade
of
violence.
Conflict Studies No. 108. The Institute for the Study of Conflict. £2.75
The roots of the Ulster conflict are
deep in Irish and British history, and the
ability to confront the problem, let alone
solve it, requires an awareness of that
history, and an understanding of the
tides running in world affairs at the
present time. No doubt the political and
military leaders on the spot, and the
soldiers and police who continue to carry
the appalling burden so magnificently,
are aware of how important and
intractable the problem is. They see all
too clearly the continuing threat not only
to Ulster, but also to the rest of the
United Kingdom, and to the Irish
Republic. There are ominous signs too
that the Ulster situation is to be even
more "internationalised" than it already
has been, through the spreading activities
of the terrorists. Recent notorious events
have brought home to us afresh the
continuity and rising scale of violence in
every part of Ireland. The pain is
persistent, the dangers growing. Yet still
there seems to be in the rest
ofthe
United
Kingdom an indifference and apathy
which themselves are of the greatest
assistance
tothe
I.R.A.
Too
many people
in Britain persist in regarding Northern
Ireland as something "foreign", and
contemplate the long crisis there with an
equanimity which might well be deemed
insulting, and it is certainly unrealistic.
This publication by Dr. Peter
Janke
.has all the qualities that have come to be
expected ofa "Conflict Study". It isclear,
comprehensive. and balanced, and
makes its points effectively. Particularly
helpful are the two maps showing the
Roman Catholic and Protestant areas of
Belfastand Londonderry. and two others
depicting the changing levels of military
and police involvement in the province
between 1974 and 1979. The study is
divided
into
four'
parts.
dealing
successively with the political fore-
ground, the development of the I.R.A.,
violence and terrorism, and the way back
to peace. Dr.
Janke
sets recent Irish
history against its gloomy. tormented
background. He traces the course of
events over the last ten years, whereby
the non-violent protest organisation of
the Civil Rights movement created in
1967 came increasingly to be used as a
stalking-horse for more sinister forces.
set on violent and revolutionary action.
He distinguishes four phases in the
January 1980 Police Journal
advance of violence and terrorism: first,
communal disturbances, then sectarian
violence, then the growing I.R.A. sniping
and bombing campaign against the
military, and against Protestants; and
finally the development of terrorist
international links. It is stressed that
these four phases are not clearly
separated, but superimposed the one
upon the other.
Certain thoughts present themselves.
The Irish situation is bedevilled amongst
other things bywhat maybe termed
'''the
geographical fallacy"; namely. that
because the whole of Ireland is an island,
therefore it follows without question that
that island ought to and must be a
political unit. There is the irony too in
that British governments, rightly seeking
to safeguard the rights of the minority of
the population of Northern Ireland, have
persistently sought to frustratethe wishes
of the majority. It is made abundantly
plain, again, that the activities of the
ProvisionaII.R.A., and even more those
of the Irish National Liberation Army,
are a deadly threat to the security of the
Republic as well as that of the province of
Northern Ireland. No doubt the Dublin
government is well aware of this, but as
ever men are the product of their past,
and find it almost impossible to wrench
themselves altogether free of old
loyalties, old prejudices, oldassumptions.
In the early Seventies successive
Conservative and Labour leaders
attempted
to
negotiate
with
the
terrorists. much to Dublin's annoyance.
since the Irish government had always
avoided any dealings with the Provincial
I.R.A.• which it had declared illegal.
Again and again one is forced to
conclude that many British politicians
had no real idea of the dimensions of the
problem, and certainly little under-
standing that the crux of everything was
the clash of two loyalties. of two
allegiances, of two nations. These
loyalties were and are directed to one or
other "certain idea" of a state or nation,
not merelyto forms of government. Thus
all the elaborate manouevring to create
carefully balanced "shared government"
was pointless, and bound to collapse
before the potent force of ideological and
national conflict. It is true that the
boundary between North and South was
not originally conceived as an inter-
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