Deprivation and Political Violence in Northern Ireland, 1922-1985

Abstract

Terrorist movements are discussed under the rubric of social movements that generate collective violence. Deprivation theory is tested with multivariate time-series regression models, with controls for security force levels and industrial production. Findings are: (1) although Northern Ireland suffers from high unemployment, increases in fatal violence are not related to rises in unemployment; (2) the violence has a tendency to perpetuate itself, independently of its stimuli; (3) the conflict is unrepresentative of clashes between state and insurgent forces in that most of the fatalities in it are not attributable to the security forces; and (4) further explanations should incorporate both political factors and mechanisms that contribute to the escalation process. Several possibilities are explored.