The book:
- assesses the motivations and campaigns of the IRA, UVF and UDA and other armed groups
- discusses what each paramilitary group achieved through violence
- analyses the continuing controversies surrounding the Northern Irelands dirty war
- outlines the extent of collusion between British security forces and loyalist paramilitaries
- explores how governments and political parties shaped the peace process
- scrutinizes prospects for the political development of unionism and nationalism within a devolved power sharing framework
- examines whether the sectarian divide is strengthening or weakening
- concludes by assessing whether Northern Ireland can move permanently from violence and instability to become a normal peaceful polity, in which the war is merely a historic relic
Written by an acknowledged expert in the field, Northern Ireland combines incisive analysis, original research and a lucid style to provide an important assessment of what has been described as an 800 year old problem.
