Comparing State Repression of Pro-State Vigilantes and Anti-State Insurgents: Northern Ireland, 1972-75

Abstract

I compare the repression of "pro-state" paramilitary violence with the repression of anti-state insurgent violence. The setting examined is Northern Ireland between August 1972 and November 1975. During this time period, "pro-state" Protestant paramilitaries and "anti-state" Irish Republican paramilitaries engaged in significant levels of violence. Among the state's responses to this violence were the internment, without charge or trial, of suspected paramilitaries, and the confiscation of illegally held weapons. How the state used these methods of repression differently for Protestant paramilitaries vs. Republican insurgents is examined with time-series regression methods, employing data collected at monthly intervals. In general, the state was less repressive of Protestant paramilitaries, and state repression of Protestant paramilitaries tended to reflect attempts by the state to find a political solution to the violence (by both Protestant paramilitaries and Republican paramilitaries) in Northern Ireland, rather than Protestant paramilitary violence per se. In contrast, the state's repression of Republicans was more forceful, and more directly linked to Republican violence.