Moving terrorists from the streets to a diamond-shaped table

Abstract

The Northern Ireland conflict has often been viewed as parochial, closed off from the currents of international opinion and foreign influence. Yet nationalists, unionists, and pacifists consistently recruited supporters and confronted their adversaries on an international stage. The relative success or failure of these groups within the Northern Ireland political system was based in large part on their ability to navigate the changing global context. This dissertation demonstrates that to understand the development of the conflict and that of the peace process, it is necessary to take a comprehensive look at the role of the international community. The conflict in Northern Ireland was fundamentally international from its inception in the late 1960s and grew increasingly so over the next thirty years. Many of the ideas that motivated the groups involved in the Northern Ireland conflict were global in nature and origin, as were the institutions and organizations that became important players in the conflict and its resolution. Given that international ideas, institutions, and organizations were so central in forming the contours of the conflict, the conflict must be analyzed within a framework of international history.