ABSTRACT

This study has attempted to understand and dissect the Irish republican strategic perspective in order to determine how the movement has seen its aims being advanced through the employment of armed force. Reference to strategic theory has been used to help analyse the judgments exercised by the movement on this issue. In one sense it is difficult to reach any definitive conclusions, not least as a consequence of the recent period of fluidity in Northern Irish politics which may just herald the end of PIRA’s campaign of violence. Even so, the conflict itself will not be over until there is an overall political solution acceptable to the majority of people in both the contending communities in Northern Ireland. In the absence of a formal political settlement the potential will always exist, despite the current IRA ceasefire, for a reversion to hostilities. While this remains the case, the role of the military instrument in Irish republican strategic thinking will continue to unfold. Future developments will, therefore, necessarily modify the interpretations set down here. However, by looking at the overall process of the republican movement’s strategic formulation as it has evolved, we can make some historically valid generalisations.