ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the character of contemporary British policy towards Northern Ireland. All the parties to the conflict over the past, present and future governance of Northern Ireland, including the British themselves, have sharply differing views on what British policy is, let alone what they would like it to be. The chapter illustrates, British policy is, of its very nature, profoundly ambiguous about the key questions at issue. It discusses the nature and scope of British policy and then goes on to characterise two of its principal facets, firstly, the deployment of military and police power, and secondly, the approach to the constitutional issue. British policy is more accurately described as cautious crisis management than being informed by a strong sense of aims and objectives. The chapter concludes that British policy is largely reactive in nature, shaped principally by the overriding goal of conflict management and the twist and turns of political forces within Northern Ireland.
