Resurgence of a terrorist organisation part 1: The UDA, a case study

Abstract

The Ulster Defence Association is the largest of the paramilitary organisations in Northern Ireland, yet it has received scant attention in the literature on terrorism. As a paramilitary organisation, it appeared to be in terminal decline in the late 1980s, but it has since then re‐established itself as a significant security threat in Northern Ireland. This article describes in the form of a case study some of the factors that have led to the resurgence of the organisation since 1989. In particular, it describes how a series of events, culminating with the Stevens Inquiry of 1989–90, effectively re‐established the organisation and renewed its deadly capacity for terrorism.1