Visions of Normality: Peace and the Reconstruction of Policing in Northern Ireland

Abstract

While all regimes of social control require normalisation, this need is particularly acute in deeply divided societies where the maintenance of social order is a highly contested activity. In the aftermath of a protracted conflict, as the boundaries of ‘normality’ are blurred, disputes over the nature of ‘normal policing’ reflect broader conflicts over the competing visions of normality which shape the emerging social order. This paper considers the visions of normality articulated in Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) discourse within the broad context of the ongoing peace process in Northern Ireland. As the conflict appeared to draw to a close following the 1994 paramilitary ceasefires and related political developments, the RUC’s role came under intense scrutiny. The visions of normality privileged in RUC discourse functioned to ensure the force’s organisational survival and institutional outlook by consolidating its role within the emerging social and political orders of Northern Ireland. In this context, the articulation of normal policing is synonymous with policing the boundaries of that normality.