Who Was Responsible for the Troubles?: The Northern Ireland Conflict

The Troubles in Northern Ireland claimed the lives of almost four thousand people, most of them civilians, and forty-five thousand were injured in bombings and shootings. This book explores who was primarily responsible for the prosecution of the conflict and its toll on the dead, injured, and emotionally traumatized. It combines elements of history, politics, sociology, and social psychology to identify the collective actors who drove the conflict for more than three decades. The book captures the terror and pain but also the hope of life and the pursuit of happiness in a deeply divided society.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 296 pages
Publication date: 18 March 2022
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press

The Troubles in Northern Ireland claimed the lives of nearly four thousand people, the majority of whom were civilians. In bombings and shootings, forty-five thousand individuals were injured. In terms of population size, this was the most severe conflict witnessed in Western Europe since the conclusion of World War II. The central question posed in this book is fundamental, yet it is one that has rarely been asked: Who was primarily responsible for the prosecution of the Troubles and their attendant toll of the dead, the injured, and the emotionally traumatized? Liam Kennedy, who lived in Belfast throughout most of the conflict, was long afraid to raise the question and its implications. After years of reflection and research on the matter, he has brought together elements of history, politics, sociology, and social psychology to identify the collective actors who drove the conflict onwards for more than three decades, from the days of the civil rights movement in the late 1960s to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The Troubles in Northern Ireland are a world-class problem in miniature. The combustible mix of national, ethnic, and sectarian passions that went into the making of the conflict has its parallels today in other parts of the world. Who Was Responsible for the Troubles? is an original and controversial work that captures the terror and the pain but also the hope of life and the pursuit of happiness in a deeply divided society.

The Troubles in Northern Ireland claimed the lives of nearly four thousand people, the majority of whom were civilians. In bombings and shootings, forty-five thousand individuals were injured. In terms of population size, this was the most severe conflict witnessed in Western Europe since the conclusion of World War II. The central question posed in this book is fundamental, yet it is one that has rarely been asked: Who was primarily responsible for the prosecution of the Troubles and their attendant toll of the dead, the injured, and the emotionally traumatized? Liam Kennedy, who lived in Belfast throughout most of the conflict, was long afraid to raise the question and its implications. After years of reflection and research on the matter, he has brought together elements of history, politics, sociology, and social psychology to identify the collective actors who drove the conflict onwards for more than three decades, from the days of the civil rights movement in the late 1960s to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. The Troubles in Northern Ireland are a world-class problem in miniature. The combustible mix of national, ethnic, and sectarian passions that went into the making of the conflict has its parallels today in other parts of the world. Who Was Responsible for the Troubles? is an original and controversial work that captures the terror and the pain but also the hope of life and the pursuit of happiness in a deeply divided society.

Weight: 454g
Dimension: 153 x 228 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780228011989