ABSTRACT
This chapter sits uncomfortably in a book about public disorder. Some might argue that it would be more appropriate to treat the recent ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland (from 1968 to the present) as an example of guerrilla or civil warfare. One reason for including them here is that the bombings and assassinations of today are the legacy of the civil disturbances of the 1960s. As such, the escalating conflict in Northern Ireland offers a useful paradigm for predicting whether a similar process of escalation might feasibly occur on the British mainland. A second reason is to show how recent British security developments are based on precedents set during the containment of the Irish conflict.
