Synopses & Reviews
The Crowned Harp provides a detailed analysis of policing in Northern Ireland. Tracing its history from 1922, Ellison and Smyth portray the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) as an organisation burdened by its past as a colonial police force. They analyse its perceived close relationship with unionism and why, for many nationalists, the RUC embodied the problem of the legitimacy of Northern Ireland, arguing that decisions made on the organisation, composition and ideology of policing in the early years of the state had consequences which went beyond the everyday practice of policing. The authors provide an extended discussion of policing after the outbreak of civil unrest in 1969, ask why policing was cast in a paramilitary mould, and look at the use of special constabularies and the way in which the police dealt with social unrest which threatened to break down sectarian divisions. Examining the reorganisations of the RUC in the 1970s and 1980s, Ellison and Smyth focus on the various structural, legal and ideological components, the professionalisation of the force and the development of a coherent, if contradictory, ideology. The analysis of the RUC during this period sheds light on the problematic nature of using the police as a counter insurgency force in a divided society. Perceptions of the police, and the opinions of rank and file members are examined and an assessment is made of the various alternative models of policing, such as community policing and local control. This book offers important lessons about the nature of policing in divided societies.
Synopsis
A detailed analysis of policing in Northern Ireland, tracing the history of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) since its origination in 1922, and the complex problems it faces today.
Synopsis
'Baghdad Bulletin takes us where mainstream news accounts do not go. Disrupting the easy cliches that dominate US journalism, Enders blows away the media fog of war.' Norman Soloman
About the Author
John S. Saul has been, since the 1960s, an activist in support of southern African liberation both in his native Canada and in southern Africa itself. He is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 by the Canadian Association of African Studies for his writing and lecturing on South Africa.
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Policing Nineteenth-Century Ireland: Setting the Parameters
2. Policing After Partition: Constructing the Security Apparatus
3. Policing Under Stormont
4. The Impact of Civil Rights on Policing: Collapse and Failed Reform
5. Criminalisation and Normalisation: The Counter-Insurgency Solution
6. Legitimacy, Counter-Insurgency and Policing: The Legacy of the 1970s
7. Shooting to Kill?
8. Collusion and Death Squads
9. Symbolism, Surveys and Police Legitimacy
10. Epilogue: The Patten Re