Ideology and Policing

Abstract

This chapter critically examines the overarching ideological dimension to the policing debate within modern Irish republicanism, interrogating how competing views of where Irish republicanism is currently at in transition and where it is believed to be heading in the future are construed through value laden interpretations of where is has come from. It evaluates how ‘critical engagement’ with post-Patten policing in Northern Ireland is interpreted through long held belief systems that frame the move in terms of congruence with or contradiction to past positions. The chapter posits that there are two contesting ideological models for understanding the current Sinn Fein strategy in transitional Northern Ireland; the ‘progressive republican’ model that interprets current Sinn Fein strategy as being premised on a change of tactics that has moved the pursuit of ideological goals from an armed struggle to a political struggle and the ‘constitutional nationalist’ model that interprets Sinn Fein strategy as an abandonment of Irish republican principles that involves a reformist working of the state that can ultimately only lead to assimilation into, rather than removal of, a partitionist state.