Adrian Grant

A Lens Over Conflicted Memory: Surveying ‘Troubles’ Commemoration in Northern Ireland

Abstract The political functions of conflict-related commemoration have been examined in Northern Ireland, as in other deeply divided societies. However, a gap in research has persisted. In order to properly examine and evaluate local commemoration as a political activity, we should find out the size and spread of this activity, and ascertain who is responsible for its production. Accordingly, this paper presents the findings of a scoping survey of ‘Troubles’-related commemoration in Northern Ireland. We supply survey data in relation to types of commemoration; categories of actor; frequency; and location. Combining this with field observation of the forms and themes of commemoration, we examine how these data can frame our understandings of the environment of ‘Troubles’ memory.

Seán Murray: Marxist-Leninist and Irish Socialist Republican

viable this threat remains. This is an important book that adds to our knowledge and understanding of organisation splits, fractures and fragmentation within Irish republicanism, certainly, but it also tells us something more insightful about these phenomena in other terrorist groups around the world. We know from empirical research undertaken for the RAND Corporation in 2008 that of 648 terrorist organisations analysed some 130 splintered, including 26 of the 45 religious-inspired groups sampled (16). It suggests, rightly, that people join terrorist groups for many different reasons. Some for ideology, though the vast majority are carried into terrorism by primary motivating factors such as peer pressure, leadership and megalomania – others, as Professor Louise Richardson (2006) has written, for the objectives provided by ‘revenge, renown, and reaction’. To be sure, The Origins and Rise of Dissident Irish Republicanism is a fascinating book on several levels. It draws upon the author’s considerable first-hand interviews with people connected to the wider republican movement, as well as a handful of ‘dissidents’ or ‘ultras’, carried out between 2007 and mid-2013. It is reflective of an advanced qualitative methodology that really has produced some remarkably rich material that has enabled Morrison to make an informed judgement on the continuing threat posed by splinter groups to the stability of a brittle ‘peace process’. Any analysis that draws upon such rich empirical evidence and a deep appreciation of the nuances thrown up by the academic literature on Irish republicanism is in itself a worthwhile endeavour. It will be directly relevant to students and scholars engaged in the analysis of Irish republicanism as well as those with more than a passing interest in empirical-based case studies on terrorism.