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14 Comp. Pol. Stud. 3 (1981-1982)

handle is hein.journals/compls14 and id is 1 raw text is: 

This article addresses the need to relate theoretical statements on the causes of political
violence to micro-level activity. Gurr's relative deprivation model is reviewed and some
modifications are suggested. His theory, the modifications, and a number of possible
alternatives or additions to the theory are then tested against data from a survey of Roman
Catholic political activists in Northern Ireland. The analysis suggests that disobedient and
violent forms of antiregime behavior have quite different causes; that the connection
between RD and violence is less direct than Gurr suggests; and that dissidence plays a
more important role than that accorded it in the relative deprivation model.




                              DISOBEDIENCE AND

                                            VIOLENCE IN

                            NORTHERN IRELAND


                                      TERRANCE G. CARROLL
                                                   Brock   University
                                            St. Catharines,  Canada



  S   ectarian violence has long  been  an unhappy   feature of life in
      Northern  Ireland, but in the decade after the riots of 1969 Ulster-
men  killed one another as a result of political disputes at a rate which is
entirely unprecedented in the history of the province.' Unhappiness with
the  political situation in Northern Ireland was  endemic  during  the
seventies. Indeed, that was the only reasonable  reaction to a state of
constitutional limbo designed to please no one. But for most people the
step from  political dissidence to armed rebellion is immense.
   Dissidence  may  lead a person  to adopt  any one  of a number   of
different courses of action. One common  reaction is to do nothing other
than grumble.  Among   the activist segment of the public, some people

AUTHOR'S   NOTE: My interest in Northern Ireland was stimulated by Robert J. Jackson
of Carleton University, Ottawa, and my research over the past decade benefited greatly
from his guidance and advice. I am pleased to be able to acknowledge my indebtedness to
him.
COMPARATIVE   POLITICAL STUDIES, vol. 14 No. I, April 1981 3-29
©  1981 Sage Publications, Inc.


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