The Greatest Weight? Paramilitaries, Deterrent Violence and Feud in Ulster's Borderlands since 1920

本项目考察了自1920年以来，准军事组织在阿尔斯特边境地区使用暴力的演变。它将深入分析几代人之间的连续性、遗留问题和分歧，以及重新爆发冲突的前景。该项目涉及两个广泛的主题：(i)威慑暴力和代际学习：威慑暴力有效吗？在选择有代表性的受害者方面，一代准军事人员如何影响后代？在使用暴力方面的歧视在不同世代和/或地理区域之间是否有显著差异？（二）在选择受害者时机会主义的报复或宿怨：是否有重要证据表明社会或经济恶意影响了准军事暴力？这个项目将调查“成功”威慑暴力的模板是否被代代相传（被重新使用）。在关于北爱尔兰“麻烦”的学术研究中，城市暴力，如贝尔法斯特或L/Derry的冲突，吸引了不成比例的学术关注。尽管城市地区的人口经常流动，但阿尔斯特省农村地区的土地所有权和居住模式更为稳定。对于记忆的作用、制度、社会网络和家庭关系在连续冲突中的影响，我们的理解有很大的潜力。通过利用档案记录和采访材料，该项目将分析“基于网络的升级”，社会动态-土地所有权或经济活动模式，机构成员和非正式网络（其中的冲突），城市化-如何影响阿尔斯特边境地区准军事暴力的动员和复员，升级和降级。该项目还将评估是否有重要证据表明，小怨恨被嫁接到更广泛的政治暴力运动中，本质上是机会主义地招募一个事业和准军事组织，以在与邻居的长期地方不和中得分。将特别注意审查个人的家族史、阶级或职业是否是选择受害者的重要因素。这项研究还将确定宗教/社会机构——盖尔体育协会、共济会分会——的成员资格是否对“代表性受害者”的选择至关重要。这种缜密的分析将挑战学术界关于准军事暴力通常是“不分青红皂白”的断言。最后，该项目将提供一个当代分析，分析过去种族间暴力袭击的记忆和理由是否为未来另一个重大暴力时期的前景打开了方便之门。这项研究特别及时，恰逢爱尔兰分裂一百周年纪念日，人们对北爱尔兰准军事活动的担忧日益增加，以及英国-爱尔兰边境对英国脱欧的重要性。该项目将利用书面/口头档案和对与暴力准军事团体有联系的个人（准军事组织成员、成员的亲属、现任和前任警察/军事人员、准军事暴力受害者及其家人或朋友）的采访。将进行广泛的实地考察，特别是在阿尔斯特（在边界两侧）。产出将包括两篇期刊文章，其中一篇与研究助理合著，一篇与大学出版社发表的手稿，一次学术决策者会议，公开演讲（包括在各部/机构、区域博物馆和图书馆），一篇专门的项目博客媒体文章。致力于打破阿尔斯特代际暴力循环的英国和爱尔兰高级官员也表示，他们认为该项目具有相当大的潜在公共政策影响。

This project examines the evolution of the use of violence by paramilitaries in the border region of Ulster since 1920. It will offer an in-depth analysis on continuities, legacies and divergences between generations and on the prospect of renewed conflict. The project addresses two broad themes: (i) Deterrent Violence and Inter-generational learning: Did deterrent violence work? How did one generation of paramilitaries influence subsequent generations in terms of the selection of representative victims? Did discrimination in the use of violence significantly differ across generations and/or geographical areas?(ii) Opportunistic score-settling or feud in the selection of victims: Is there significant evidence that social or economic malice influenced / influences paramilitary violence? This project will investigate whether templates of 'successful' deterrent violence were handed down to (be re-employed by) successive generations. Within the scholarship of Northern Ireland's 'Troubles', urban violence, such as the conflict in Belfast or L/Derry, has attracted disproportionate scholarly attention. Whereas populations in urban areas often move, patterns of land ownership and residency in rural areas of Ulster are more constant. There is significant potential to improve our understanding of the role of memory, the impact of institutional, social networks and family ties during successive bouts of conflict. By drawing upon archival records and interview material this project will analyse 'network-based escalation', how social dynamics - patterns of land ownership or economic activity, institutional memberships and informal networks (conflicts therein), urbanisation - affected mobilisation and demobilisation, escalation and de-escalation of paramilitary violence in Ulster's borderlands.This project will also gauge whether there is significant evidence that petty grudges were grafted onto a wider campaign of political violence, essentially an opportunistic recruitment of a cause and paramilitary organisations to score points in long-standing local feuds with neighbours. Particular attention will be paid to examining whether individual family history, class or profession were important factors in the selection of victims. This study will also determine whether membership of religious/social institutions - the Gaelic Athletic Association, masonic lodges - were critical to the selection of 'representative victims'. This close analysis will challenge scholarly assertions that paramilitary violence was generally 'indiscriminate'.Finally, this project will offer a contemporary analysis of whether the memories and justifications of violent inter-communal attacks in the past leaves open the prospect of another period of significant violence in the future. This research is particularly timely, coinciding with the anniversary of the centenary of the partition of Ireland, rising concerns over paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland and the importance of the UK-Irish border for Brexit. The project will draw on written / oral archives and interviews with individuals with a connection to violent paramilitary groups (members, relatives of members of paramilitary organisations, serving and former police officers/military personnel, victims of paramilitary violence and their families or friends). Extensive fieldwork will be undertaken, particularly in Ulster (on both sides of the border).Outputs will include two journal articles, including one article co-authored with the Research Assistant, a published manuscript with a university press, an academic-policymaker conference, public lectures (including in ministries/agencies, regional museums and libraries), a dedicated project blog media articles. Senior British and Irish officials who are working to break the cycle of inter-generational violence in Ulster have also indicated that they believe this project has considerable potential public policy impact.