Blog 8: Political Violence

            Since the 17^th Century, when the British Empire succeeded in annexing Northern Ireland from the rest of the country, the area has been in a state of conflict between the Protestants and the Catholics in the area. In this modern day, and in a developed area such as the British Isles,  religious conflict, it seems, should be a trifling matter. However, or at least according to the Irish revolutionaries and the widespread violence that is in the area, it is far from trifling. In fact, this conflict goes much deeper than religion, but hails to the poor way in which the British have historically treated their Irish neighbors. Many of those people in Northern Ireland feel underrepresented in Parliament, and have wanted to rejoin with the Republic of Ireland for over a century.  Recently, since various treaties between formal rebellion groups and the UK government, most of the fighting now occurring is guerilla style, but no less politically motivated than it was before.

            Are the variety of revolts that have occurred in Northern Ireland revolutionary movements, or are they civil wars. Let us define these two types of conflict. According to the textbook, civil war is “armed combat within the boundaries of a sovereign state, between parties that are subject to the same authority at the start” (Samuels), however, unlike a revolution, which produces wholesale political change, no change is made by the insurgents, at least not directly because of a civil war. So the main difference between a civil war and a revolution is the end result. The conflict in Northern Ireland, one would probably consider immediately to be a civil war, but wait, there are a few parts of revolution that it fits too. A revolution is between insurgents and the state, both of whom enjoy some popular support (Samuels). Northern Ireland is almost 50/50 Catholic/Protestant. Throughout much of the last century, when fighting was at its worse, the entire region was polarized between the two factions: the Irish Insurgents, and the State.

            Besides this, since the 1990’s, when peace talks began, though not all power was transferred to the insurgents, in 1995, the British and Irish created the Anglo-Irish Proposal for Peace, which focused on setting-up a self-government in Northern Ireland, similar to the one in Scotland (Northern Irish Conflict). This promise of change smacks of some success of the insurgents, though not wholesale change, it is change that is directly caused by the acts of the insurgents. However, not much has come of this peace proposal, instead, since 2000; there has been a stalemate of sorts within Northern Ireland.

            Given these evidences, I would say that the definitions of Revolution and Civil War, as stated in the textbook, though good, do not quite fit to the case of Northern Ireland, who, due to the peace talks with England, has been stalemated in the transition stage between  civil war and revolution. If things were to go the wrong way, Northern Ireland could easily have a revolution. For now though, it is simply a civil war.

Imbornoni, Ann M., Borgna Brunner, and Beth Rowen. "Northern Ireland Conflict: A Chronology." Infoplease. Infoplease, n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. <http://www.infoplease.com/spot/northireland1.html>.

Samuels, David J. Comparative Politics. Minneapolis: Pearson, 2011. Print.