Disobedience and Violence in Northern Ireland

Abstract

This article addresses the need to relate theoretical statements on the causes of political violence to micro-level activity. Gurr's relative deprivation model is reviewed and some modifications are suggested. His theory, the modifications, and a number of possible alternatives or additions to the theory are then tested against data from a survey of Roman Catholic political activists in Northern Ireland. The analysis suggests that disobedient and violent forms of antiregime behavior have quite different causes; that the connection between RD and violence is less direct than Gurr suggests; and that dissidence plays a more important role than that accorded it in the relative deprivation model.