James W. McAuley

University of Huddersfield · Political Sociology and Irish Studies, School of Human and Health Sciences

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

Northern Ireland’s political system is dominated by an Irish Catholic nationalist versus British Protestant unionist fault-line, based on the long-running argument over whether the province should remain part of the United Kingdom or form part of a United Ireland. Yet the largest category of elector in Northern Ireland says they are neither a union...

This chapter considers some of the ways in which collective memory has become central to Northern Ireland politics and society. It deliberates on how individuals and groups have shifted parameters from a physical towards a more cultural form of conflict. It also considers how collective memory drawn upon in defining the categories of the victim and...

This chapter further considers the role of collective memory in the construction and reproduction of senses of belonging and identity specifically within loyalists and republican communities. It reflects on the expressions of belonging as articulated through performance and popular memory and popular culture. Collective memory is central to this, r...

Interest in issues surrounding conflicting and deeply contested constructions of the past, the formation of long-standing cultural stories and their relevance to the political ideas and social structures of society in the present, are all but universal. Such concerns are far from restricted by time or space and are certainly not confined to Norther...

This chapter considers further how the notions of collective memory and narrative discussed above are used to promote specific and often much localised accounts of the past. It further discusses how these views become legitimised and in many cases routine by groups passing such ideas on across generations. It looks in detail at the position this oc...

This chapter revisits the ways in which memories are constructed but also considers similarities and differences as to how these are represented and reproduced in both national and international settings. Because of widespread interest in Irish affairs and the Irish conflict, partly motivated by the story of long-term diaspora, these competing inte...

This final chapter seeks to review the main approaches to collective memory encountered in this book, first through those approaches that take as their starting point the memories of individuals and communities; and second, by considering those approaches that look at collective memories and the social carriers of memory particularly through major...

The previous chapters have outlined some of the main discussions around the concept of collective memory and attempt to highlight everyday use. This chapter develops some of these ideas and considers how, in actively engaging in the conceptual landscape, people frame and structure the politics of the society in which they live. It engages with unde...

The strength of community identity in Northern Ireland has already been a focus of this book and will feature again in what follows. It is impossible to understate the importance of the concept of community in the Northern Ireland context. This chapter builds on some of the material already encountered to further consider some aspects of these mode...

For the lives of many in Ireland, commemoration and memorialisation are common parts of life. Representations and the ways in which narratives of the past are used make a difference in the focus and direction of everyday life. This becomes even more relevant in post-conflict Northern Ireland, where the reproduction of the past and its related narra...

A strong sense of collective identity rests on the ability to see Self and the community to which one belongs as having a coherent and stable past, a secure present and a viable and practicable future. Central to the formation of this identity is a coalescing of narratives through the storytelling and the recalling of versions of happenings of the...

The COVID-19 crisis is arguably the most important development of the 21st century so far and takes its place alongside the great eruptions of the past century. As with any crisis, the current pandemic has stimulated visions and proposals for post-COVID-19 societies. Our focus is on narratives—both predictive and prescriptive—that envisage post-COV...

Moral foundations theory (MFT) explains how political and cultural attitudes are shaped significantly by people’s moral intuitions; gut-level judgments about proper human behavior and social relationships. We examine the theory through the topic of immigration attitudes. Social scientists of various stripes have built a comprehensive research progr...

The chapter reflects on the author’s experiences as a Ph.D. student in Belfast in the mid-1980s conducting research on militant groups. It considers issues of security, ethics and access and juxtaposes the author’s experiences with what is ‘meant to happen’ according to the textbooks. The chapter illustrates the value of patience, of good luck and...

The threat of terrorism and rise of extremist movements across the globe pose some of the greatest challenges the world currently faces. While there have been serious conceptual and methodological problems within the psychological study of terrorism, the nascent field has advanced and the evidence, theories, and models have developed in their sophi...

Northern Ireland’s two main unionist parties, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) have undergone divergent fortunes since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA) as the DUP has prospered whilst the UUP has struggled. This article draws upon recent studies of the memberships of both parties to explore their perceptions o...

Research exploring radicalization pathways and how and why people become involved in terrorism has expanded since the 9/11 attacks. Likewise, over the last decade research exploring de-radicalization and desistence from terrorism has grown and expanded in an attempt to promote exit from extremist or terror groups. However, research studies on how i...

Over the last decade various theoretical models of radicalization or pathways into engagement in violent extremism have been developed. However, there is a dearth of primary data based on direct contact with violent extremists to test these models. In order to address this weakness, we analyzed accounts of engagement in violent extremism produced b...

Chapter 6 assesses the basis of British identity held by UUP members. The party adapted to a devolutionary settlement, having been a party often more supportive of direct rule from Westminster during the Troubles than the regional Ulster loyalist DUP. This chapter considers whether the UUP offers a form of Britishness more closely aligned to that f...

This chapter examines the importance of the Protestant Faith and Church and of the Orange Order to UUP members. Whilst overwhelmingly Protestant, the UUP has always rejected the overtly fundamentalist, Free Presbyterian brand with which the DUP was associated for many years. The chapter analyses whether the Church of Ireland or Presbyterian Church...

The fourth chapter provides the first detailed data on the demography, geography, and viewpoints of the UUP membership. The chapter examines if the UUP is still in any way the party of ‘Big House’ unionism, one with a more middle-class membership, or with members enjoying higher incomes, than those belonging to the DUP. The chapter profiles the par...

The second chapter reveals how and why the UUP took risks in negotiating the Belfast Agreement. This section documents the flaws and ambiguities which the leadership failed to resolve, notably in respect of the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons. The chapter details the rationale behind the decision of party leader David Trimble to ‘jump first...

The book concludes by summarizing the nature of the UUP’s membership, outlook, and vision and evaluating whether the party can ever again become the dominant unionist party in its ongoing battle with the DUP. The conclusion asks whether the UUP’s vision of liberal and civic forms of unionism continues to differ from the cultural unionism articulate...

Chapter 3 analyses the electoral consequences of the UUP’s support for the Belfast Agreement. The UUP fell from its perch, suffering electoral collapse and the loss of all the party’s Westminster MPs by 2010, before temporarily recovering in 2015 only to lose Westminster representation again two years later. The electoral problems of the UUP arose...

Chapter 7 explores UUP members’ attitudes towards other parties. It explores the degree to which pan-unionism is reality, or whether long-standing hostility to the DUP persists, evidenced by a frequent reluctance to offer the UUP’s rival lower preference votes. Given the apparent extent of policy convergence, what is the basis of this intra-unionis...

Chapter 5 offers an analysis of UUP discourses, to understand how the Party attempts to portray itself as the superior custodian of unionist interests compared to its DUP rival. The DUP’s presentation of the Belfast Agreement was primarily through a discourse of concessions to republicanism and losses to unionism, which the UUP struggled to counter...

Chapter 9 assesses the representation and roles of women in the UUP. Women represent 30 per cent of members of the Northern Ireland Assembly and 25 per cent of local councillors However, compared to other devolved institutions, where female representation is 42 and 35 per cent in the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament respectively, Northern Ire...

The opening chapter examines the UUP during the Troubles from 1969 until 1998. The era posed numerous political problems for the Party, in addition to the direct impact of violence upon many members. The 1973 power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement had divided the UUP under Faulkner but its collapse in 1974 and the restoration of direct rule, later acc...

This book undertakes the first detailed membership study of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). The UUP was the dominant political party in Northern Ireland during the twentieth century, but since the 1998 Belfast Agreement, the UUP has struggled to retain the loyalty and affection of many within the majority Protestant-Unionist-British community. The...

In this brief chapter, McAuley and Nesbitt-Larking offer a summary of the principal findings throughout the book, on the contemporary Canadian Orange Order and perspectives on Faith, Crown, State, and Community. The authors return to the theoretical perspectives of Social Identity/Self-categorization theory, the politics of commemoration, and Engli...

This chapter combines an analysis of Canadian Orange Order responses to the Canadian regime and government with a range of public policy issues. McAuley and Nesbitt-Larking undertake an analysis of the views of contemporary Canadian Orangemen on the Constitution, government, governance, political life, and public policy issues, including immigratio...

This chapter is an exploration of the core faith of contemporary Orangemen in Canada. This chapter begins with a brief account of the growth of Protestant religion in Canada, and then traces how members understand the role of religion in their lives. What role does this play in their social identities and their relations with others, most notably R...

This chapter sets out a brief historical contextualization to the lives of contemporary Canadian Orangemen. The selective account of strands of Orange history serves to situate and contextualize the findings in the subsequent chapters and to give a coherent account of the principal dynamics informing Orangeism in contemporary Canada. This chapter b...

The final substantive chapter, concerns “Community.” Included in this chapter are accounts of the views of contemporary Canadian Orangemen on gender, in-group solidarity, community outreach, parades and marching, and respectability. McAuley and Nesbitt-Larking explore these themes throughout this chapter and address four inter-related questions of...

This chapter presents views and perspectives on the monarchy. This includes values and beliefs surrounding the monarchy, both as a cultural symbol and as a constitutional principle. This chapter begins with an explanation of the meaning of the Crown for Canadian Orangemen and continues with an assessment of the impact of the recent pro-monarchist C...

Moral Foundations Theory (MFT) argues in part that peoples' moral intuitions impact their political values and behaviors above and beyond conventional demographic predictors. We test the theory by analyzing the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Our analysis, in part, is an attempt to replicate past findings that link voters' moral intuitions to cand...

This article analyzes how social movements and collective actors can affect political and social transformation in a structurally violent society using the case study of Northern Ireland. We focus, in particular, on the crucial role played by collective actors within the loyalist community (those who want to maintain Northern Ireland’s place in the...

This article is an investigation into the attempt by the federal Conservative government of Stephen Harper to securitise the Canadian polity through re-enchantment. Through the strategic use of discourses and the shaping of the regime of signification, the article explains how the Harper government attempted to re-enchant national myths of Anglo-co...

This book uses original research and interviews to consider the views of contemporary members of the Orange Order in Canada, including their sense of political and societal purpose, awareness of the decline of influence, views on their present circumstances, and hopes for the future of Orangeism in Canada. In so doing, it details the organisational...

This volume focuses on a number of research questions, drawn from social movement scholarship: How does nonviolent mobilisation emerge and persist in deeply divided societies? What are the trajectories of participation in violent groups in these societies? What is the relationship between overt mobilisation, clandestine operations and protests amon...

This article draws on data from one-to-one interviews with members and former members of the Ulster Volunteer Force, Ulster Defence Association, Red Hand Commando, Ulster Political Research Group, and the Progressive Unionist Party to explore the dynamic and fluid perceptions of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Sinn Fein among Ulster loyalists....

On 5 February 2005, the Washington Post revealed the latest image of terrorism in the United States. It took the form of Edgar Morales (a.k.a. ‘Puebla’), a member of the Mexican ‘St James Boys’ street gang, resident of the Bronx and described as about five feet tall with a goatee beard and dressed in baggy clothes. Morales had been arrested followi...

The study documents and analyzes the community structures supporting reintegration of the formerly abducted child mothers (FACM) within postconflict northern Uganda. A qualitative approach assesses the relevance and effectiveness of child protection structures created by different development agencies to enhance the reintegration of FACM and protec...

The 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA) led to a major realignment in unionist politics in Northern Ireland. The Ulster Unionist party (UUP), hitherto the dominant force within the Protestant British tradition, was usurped in electoral popularity by the Democratic Unionist party (DUP). In its post-GFA rise, the DUP garnered majority support from membe...

The precise rationale for, and timing of, the Northern Ireland peace process of the 1990s and beyond, which developed after more than two decades of conflict, has yet to be fully explained. It has been a common assumption that it arose from a stalemate involving the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the ‘regular’ pro‐state forces of the British Army and...

Enter any mainstream bookshop in Northern Ireland and the image of loyalism that confronts the browser is ostensibly one of criminality and individualism. Publishers of books on loyalism seem to take particular interest in acts of violence and murder perpetrated by those who gain reputations not so much for their thinking, but for their actions. Ac...

Perhaps the most visible expression of loyalism in Northern Ireland can be found in the Orange Order, especially through its set piece commemorations and in particular its parading tradition. Such parades give open and very public expression to notions of loyalty and identity (Bryan 2000). Within this, several writers have drawn attention to the ke...

One of the more memorable of the many loyalist murals that appeared during the Troubles was painted at Spier’s Place on the Shankill Road. Its imagery addressed the roles of women within loyalism and sought to display continuity over some 90 years of unionism. One side of the mural was a reproduction of a postcard originally issued during the Home...

The 1998 Good Friday Agreement laid down procedures for the accelerated release of prisoners affiliated to groups that had committed to a ‘complete and unequivocal ceasefire’ and acknowledged the need to ‘facilitate the reintegration of prisoners into the community by providing support both prior to and after release, including assistance directed...

This chapter summarises the roles played by former prisoners in conflict transformation and assesses the extent to which they can assist in the desectarianisation of Northern Ireland. Former prisoners have made significant political contributions to the development and maintenance of peace. Without forfeiting all of the views that contributed to th...

This chapter highlights the importance of prisoner releases in peace processes beyond Northern Ireland. Where the terms of such releases are ambiguous, or freedom is used overtly as a bargaining chip, the beneficial effects are often only brief. The chapter offers a set of ‘ideal-type’ conditions for prisoner releases, to maximise the chances of su...

This chapter reviews the literature on the struggle for legitimacy conducted by republican and loyalist former prisoners in Northern Ireland during the 1970s and 1980s. Although similar tactics were used by both sides in refusing to comply with prison authorities, the larger and more enduring campaigns conducted by republican prisoners were to resh...

This chapter explores post-conflict attitudes and behaviour of those former non-state combatants in Northern Ireland who have engaged in broader formations of social and political reconciliation and transformation through various post-prison and community initiatives. It examines how the influx of former prisoners into organisations such as Sinn Fé...

This chapter analyses the motivations underpinning participation in the conflict in Northern Ireland. It shows that experiential and situational factors were more important than historical belief and family tradition, and that motivations for joining were often reactive and ideological development followed, rather than preceded, violent actions and...

The contribution of paramilitary prisoners to conflict transformation remains a surprisingly under-stated aspect of the Northern Ireland peace process. Former prisoners have utilised the organisational capacity and structures of paramilitary groups and developed these as agents of conflict transformation. ‘Management systems’ and structures evident...

Long after the signing of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, the far-reaching consequences envisaged in the consociation of the competing political groupings of Ulster unionism and Irish nationalism became manifest. A long and tortuous path led to the formation of an inclusive coalition government headed by the supposed political e...

This article examines whether the promotion of British values is desirable, feasible or even permissible within Northern Ireland. Here, the advocacy of Britishness may be seen as threatening or offensive to a minority community whose political representatives desire the diminution of symbols of Britishness in order to encourage Irish nationalists t...

Following the 1998 Belfast Agreement in Northern Ireland, levels of paramilitary violence have declined substantially. Among loyalists, the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) and associated Red Hand Commando (RHC) have formally renounced violence, and dissolved their ‘military structures’, and perhaps the most reticent of all of the major paramilitary gr...