ABSTRACT
Northern Ireland is the most divided part of the United Kingdom. It has been the site of a low-intensity conflict since 1969 that has claimed the lives of over 3,500 people, with many more having been physically and psychologically maimed. At its height, this conflict was a ‘dirty war’ involving no-warning bombs that killed civilians, assassinations of perceived enemies by paramilitary organisations, bombings in Northern Ireland and Britain aimed at damaging the economy and causing disruption, dubious propaganda on all sides and allegations that a ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy was being operated by the British government. The region is the most militarised in Europe, having a huge police force for its size and a British army presence on the streets for the last thirty years. Politically, Northern Ireland has been a thorn in the side of successive British governments due to the intractability of the conflict, the repeated diplomatic failure to secure political compromise, the negative international publicity generated and the financial costs of the conflict, amounting to billions of pounds over the last thirty years.
