Academic Actors Take to the Stage: Neoconservatives and the ‘Defeat’ of the IRA

Abstract

‘Idealistic’ Neoconservatives have attempted to capture the Northern Ireland peace process in the global debate on whether to ‘talk to terrorists’. They argue that the British government did not talk to IRA terrorists until they had been defeated. The government did not cross ‘red lines’ or compromise ‘democratic norms’. This chapter argues that there is little evidence to support the Neoconservative claim that the IRA was ‘defeated’. Conservative and Labour governments demonstrated a pragmatic Realism and did cross ‘red lines’ and compromised democratic norms in order to achieve a more peaceful future for the people of Britain and Ireland. Talking to ‘terrorists’ can be, depending on context, a very effective way of ending armed conflict.