Was the IRA Defeated? Neo-Conservative Propaganda as History

摘要

‘Orthodox Neoconservatives’ have attempted to claim that the ‘dirty war’ was responsible for the defeat of the IRA in order to establish the general lesson that ‘terrorists’ should only be spoken to once they have been defeated. Bew and Frampton, however, have attempted to advocate this ‘Orthodox Neoconservatism’ while straddling two other contradictory strands of neo-conservatism (‘Anti-peace process unionism’ and the ‘Trimbleistas’) which has led to confusion and contradictions in their work (2004-12). In their reply, Bew and Frampton now deny they are neo-conservatives, claim that they did not argue that the IRA was defeated but the effectiveness of the ‘dirty war’ and defeat of the IRA are ‘worth debating’. This article will argue first, that Bew and Frampton’s work is recognisably neo-conservative to right-wing reviewers of their work and others. Second, a preliminary critique of ‘the IRA was defeated’ thesis is mapped out. This casts doubt on the global neo-conservative ‘lesson’ of the effectiveness of a militaristic and an uncompromising approach to dealing with terrorism.View full textDownload full textRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03086534.2012.697618