The Geography of Conflict and Death in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Home , Protestant Action Force, Ulster Defence Regiment

The Geography of Conflict and Death in Belfast, Northern Ireland Author(s): Victor Mesev, Peter Shirlow and Joni Downs Source: Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 99, No. 5, Geographies of Peace and Armed Conflict (Dec., 2009), pp. 893-903 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Association of American Geographers Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20621258 Accessed: 07-05-2019 21:30 UTC

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms

Association of American Geographers, Taylor & Francis, Ltd. are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Annals of the Association of American Geographers

This content downloaded from 37.219.222.99 on Tue, 07 May 2019 21:30:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms The Geography of Conflict and Death in Belfast, Northern Ireland

Victor Mesev,* Peter Shirlow,* and Joni Downs*

^Department ofGeography, The Florida State University tSchool ofLaw, Queens University, Belfast ^Department of Geography, University of South Florida

The conflict known as the "Troubles" in Northern Ireland began during the late 1960s and is defined by political and ethno-sectarian violence between state, pro-state, and anti-state forces- Reasons for the conflict are contested and complicated by social, religious, political, and cultural disputes, with much of the debate concerning the victims of violence hardened by competing propaganda-conditioning perspectives. This article introduces a database holding information on the location of individual fatalities connected with the contemporary Irish conflict. For each victim, it includes a demographic profile, home address, manner of death, and the organization responsible. Employing geographic information system (GIS) techniques, the database is used to measure, map, and analyze the spatial distribution of conflict-related deaths between 1966 and 2007 across Belfast, the capital city of Northern Ireland, with respect to levels of segregation, social and economic deprivation, and interfacing. The GIS analysis includes a kernel density estimator designed to generate smooth intensity surfaces of the conflict-related deaths by both incident and home locations. Neighborhoods with high-intensity surfaces of deaths were those with the highest levels of segregation (>90 percent Catholic or Protestant) and deprivation, and they were located near physical barriers, the so-called peacelines, between predominantly Catholic and predominantly Protestant communities. Finally, despite the onset of peace and the formation of a power-sharing and devolved administration (the Northern Ireland Assembly), disagreements remain over the responsibility and "commemoration" of victims, sentiments that still uphold division and atavistic attitudes between spatially divided Catholic and Protestant populations. Key Words: Belfast, conflict, deaths, Northern Ireland, paramilitary, segregation.

mmmin?mft cgis) imm^m^m, mmmRi9ee^2oo7mm^it^mnn^

mis, ^??w?ij*fWM7f^^ ^mmft&fM^mmizm

mt:, itsmmmA, ?SM*

El conflicto de Irlanda del Norte, tambien conocido como conflicto de "Los Lios," empez? a finales de los 1960s, y se le define en terminos de violencia politica y etno-sectaria entre fuerzas estatales, pro-estatales y anti-estatales. Las razones del conflicto son debatidas y complicadas a la luz de disputas sociales, religiosas, politicas y culturales, en las que gran parte de la discusi?n se concentra en las victimas de una violencia endurecida por la competencia entre perspectivas condicionadas por la propaganda. Este articulo presenta una base de datos con informaci?n sobre la localizaci?n de muertes individuales conectadas con el conflicto irland?s contempor?neo. Por cada victima, la informaci?n incluye un perfil demogr?fico, direcci?n residencial, modo de muerte y organizaci?n responsable. Por medio de tecnicas de los sistemas de informaci?n geogr?fica (SIG), la base de datos se utiliza para medir, cartografiar y analizar la distribuci?n espacial de muertes relacionadas con el conflicto entre 1966

Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 99(5) 2009, pp. 893-903 ? 2009 by Association of American Geographers Initial submission, September 2008; revised submission, February 2009; final acceptance, April 2009 Published by Taylor & Francis, LLC.

This content downloaded from 37.219.222.99 on Tue, 07 May 2019 21:30:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Mesev, Shirlow, and Downs

y 2007 en Belfast, capital de Irlanda del Norte, con respecto a los niveles de segregaci?n, privaci?n social y econ?mica, y proximidad a las barreras fisicas que separan comunidades de diferente religion. El an?lisis del SIG incluye un estimador de la densidad kernel, disenado para generar superficies de intensidad pareja de muertes relacionadas con el conflicto en localizaciones fortuitas y en el lugar de residencia. Los vecindarios con superficies de alta intensidad de muertes se corresponden con los que tienen altos niveles de segregaci?n (>90 por ciento de cat?licos o protestantes) y privaci?n, y localizados cerca de barreras fisicas, las llamadas lineas de paz, situadas entre comunidades predominantemente cat?licas y comunidades predominantemente protestantes. Finalmente, pese a la implantaci?n de la paz y la formaci?n de una administraci?n de poder compartido y restituido (la Asamblea de Irlanda del Norte), todavia subsisten desacuerdos en cuanto a la responsabilidad y "conmemoraci?n" de victimas, sentimientos que prolongan la division y actitudes at?vicas entre las poblaciones cat?licas y protestantes espacialmente separadas. Palabras clave: Belfast, conflicto, muertes, Irlanda del Norte, paramilitar, segregaci?n.

Since the 1960s the conflict in Northern Ireland such debates on the Northern Irish conflict have tra has resulted in over 3,600 deaths, the maiming ditionally lacked rigorous quantitative methodologies of at least 30,000 people, and the displacement with which to measure and map violence. This is not to of tens of thousands due to intimidation and political say that a conventional narrative approach lacks merit, violence, which in turn has furthered residential segre but instead that a statistical approach can also be used gation along ethno-religious boundaries. This conflict to validate significance and, in so doing, challenge pro in Northern Ireland, commonly called the "Troubles," paganda attached to the social messages that emerge is the result of confrontation among three key sets of concerning conflict (McDowell 2008). antagonists: the British state, which, through the use of The measurement and mapping of deaths by religion force, aimed to maintain the majority's desire to remain can assist a spatially sensitive analysis of inter- and in within the United Kingdom; Irish Republicans, notably tracommunity violence that is not always reproducible the Irish Republican Army (IRA), who sought to unite in current debates concerning sectarian violence and Ireland through physical force; and the loyalist paramil fatalities (cf. Schellenberg 1977; Murray 1982; Poole itaries, such as the Ulster Volunteer Force and Ulster 1983; Douglas and Shirlow 1998; McPeake 1998). The Freedom Fighters, who as pro-state paramilitaries uti analysis presented in this article utilizes a unique, spa lized violence to maintain the constitutional link with tially configured database that documents every known Britain. conflict-related death that occurred in Belfast, the cap To the world at large, the long-standing North ital city of Northern Ireland, during the Troubles. The ern Irish "problem" represents hatred and conflict database contains individual records of victims, includ between Catholics and Protestants. Indeed, despite ing their demographic profile, home address, where high-profile media attention on the ideological motiva they were killed, and the organization responsible. tions for violence by Catholics associated with republi Geographic information systems (GIS) are used to an can paramilitaries, Protestants associated with loyalist alyze the database to complete the following objec paramilitaries, and the British state, the vast majority of tives: (1) explore temporal trends in conflict-related victims were unarmed civilians (Shirlow and Murtagh deaths in terms of both victim groups and responsi 2006). To try to explain the continued political friction ble party; (2) identify overall patterns and which areas more fully demands appreciation of the multifaceted were most impacted by the conflict; and (3) charac tangle of cross-community and within-community dis terize spatial patterns of deaths specific to particular putes, as well as during the postconflict period, the victim groups and relate these spatial patterns to so "commemoration" and "symbolism" of conflict, and cioeconomic characteristics of affected areas to identify the definition and legacy of victims and "victimhood" which types of neighborhoods were disproportionally af (Cosgrove and Daniels 1988; Verdery 1999; Aughey fected by the conflict. These objectives are designed to 2005; McEvoy 2007). This article will touch on some help unravel the intricate spatial patchwork of conflict of these terms if only to demonstrate how research built related deaths in Belfast and begin to appreciate the primarily on social, cultural, and political narratives and emotive symptoms of the deep social, cultural, and po interpretations has attempted to understand how space litical struggles for which Northern Ireland has become is contaminated by violence and how violence can lead notorious. Moreover, our approach aims to document to a moral reordering of power relationships; however, a reasoned understanding of how the issues of conflict,

This content downloaded from 37.219.222.99 on Tue, 07 May 2019 21:30:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms The Geography of Conflict and Death in Belfast, Northern Ireland 895

interpretations of victimhood, and resolution of peace Victim Groups and Responsible Parties can be explored through the mapping of suffering com Conflict-related deaths are summarized by five major bined with a balanced debate on the spatial location of victims. groups of victims: (1) republican paramilitary, (2) loyalist paramilitary, (3) state and local government, (4) Protestant civilian, and (5) Catholic civilian. The republican paramilitary group includes the Irish Data and Methods Republican Army (IRA), the Official Irish Republican Army (IRA O), Continuity (CIRA) and Real Irish Re The database is built from a unique blend of infor publican Army (RIRA), the Irish National Liberation mation derived from official government sources, po Army (INLA), the Civilian Defence League (CDL), lice records, media reports, and work undertaken by and Direct Action Against Drugs (DAAD; alleged the second author with paramilitary and victim groups. as a front group for the IRA). Loyalist paramilitaries Other more general sources based on human rights vi include the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), the olations and journalistic accounts are also available, Ulster Defence Association/Ulster Freedom Fighters although they have not undertaken such a specific spa (UDA/UFF), the Red Hand Commando (RHC), the tial analysis (examples include Amnesty data [Amnesty Red Hand Defenders (RHD), the Protestant Action International 1994; Sutton 1994; Fay, Morrissey, and Group (PAG), and the Protestant Action Force (PAF). Smyth 1998; McKittrick et al. 2004]). Reported in The third group is the state and local government, Mesev et al. (2008), our work is a comprehensive store which includes the British Army (BA), Ulster Defence of information on conflict-related deaths that occurred Regiment (UDR), and the Royal Ulster Constabulary during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, which is part (RUC), as well as judges, prisoner officers, and other of the United Kingdom (Figure 1), between 1967 and civil servants. Persons not associated with any of these 2007. The database on Belfast holds details on 1,601 three groups were considered civilians, with Catholics victims (Figure 2). Each victim is listed by name, gen and Protestants1 treated separately. Maps illustrating der, age, religion, postcode of home address, date and temporal patterns of conflict-related deaths by each postcode of incident, and type of death (method and re of these five groups are summarized by both counts of sponsible party). Queries to the database produce maps victims and responsible party. of the spatial patterns of conflict-related deaths, with specific relation to levels of intracommunity violence, segregation, deprivation, and physical divisions. Spatial Distribution of Deaths

The goal of the methodology is to both characterize overall trends in the geographic distribution of conflict related deaths in Belfast as well as identify spatial pat terns unique to each victim group. The initial stage involves the identification of areas across the city? in terms of both the locations of the incidents and the homes of the victims?that were most affected by the Troubles. Because incident locations and home ad dresses are georeferenced to U.K. postcodes (these are spatial units of approximately fourteen households), and because the impact of a death in a neighborhood would likely extend some distance beyond its exact po sition in space, a GIS data smoothing technique is de Rep. of ployed to quantify more accurately the impacted areas Ireland of the city compared to simply plotting the individual United Kingdom locations. The technique chosen is a kernel density esti mation procedure (KDE), a data smoothing technique (Silverman 1986) commonly used by geographers to identify "hot spots" of point event locations (Fothering Figure 1. Belfast, Northern Ireland. ham, Brunsdon, and Charlton 2000; Downs and Horner

This content downloaded from 37.219.222.99 on Tue, 07 May 2019 21:30:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Mesev, Shirlow, and Downs

Figure 2. Distribution of conflict related deaths in the Belfast urban area, 1966-2007.

Number of Deaths 1-2 3-7 8-16 HH Urban Area

2008). KDE smooths a pattern of event points using ato relate the spatial distributions of incident locations distance-weighting function, or kernel, which creates to population density, as well as the spatial distribution a continuous intensity surface where higher intensities of the homes of victims to socioeconomic factors. occur in areas of the map that are located close to a large number of events. The amount of smoothing produced Socioeconomic and Other Factors by the kernel is controlled by its bandwidth, which ef fectively specifies how far the influence of each event Other studies have suggested that several socio extends into space. Here, KDE is used to character economic and geographic factors might have influ ize the spatial intensity of both incident locations and enced patterns of conflict-related incidents in Northern home addresses of victims by using a Gaussian kernel Ireland, including the degree of religious segregation with bandwidths of 500 m. This bandwidth is selected within neighborhoods, proximity to physical interfaces based on the supposition that the highest impact would separating predominantly Catholic from predominantly occur within a half-kilometer radius of the location of Protestant communities, population density, and levels an incident or home of a victim. To define the highest of deprivation (Shirlow and Murtagh 2006). Here we impacted areas, contour lines are generated from the use GIS-based techniques to explore the relationships intensity surfaces at 25 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent, among these four factors and both overall trends in and 95 percent intervals to delineate the spatial limits conflict-related deaths in Belfast and spatial patterns of the conflict. For example, the 25 percent contour for specific victim groups. Data were obtained on the line is interpreted as the smallest area within which 25 religious makeup, population density, and levels of de percent of the measured intensity occurs. The analysis privation from the 1991 U.K. Census of Population is repeated, using the same set of parameters, for col recorded at the enumeration district (ED) level. In to lections of incident locations for each of the five major tal there were 575 EDs in the Belfast study area in groups of victims. The intensity contours are then used 1991 with a mean population of 486 persons per ED.

This content downloaded from 37.219.222.99 on Tue, 07 May 2019 21:30:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms The Geography of Conflict and Death in Belfast, Northern Ireland 897

Equivalent information was not collected or geograph Next, the intensity contours are overlain for both in ically referenced for previous population censuses in cident locations and homes of victims to visualize how Northern Ireland, so only 1991 data were used as surro the surfaces relate to both population density and Rob gates for the duration of the entire conflict. Although son index values. At this stage, basic summary statistics socioeconomic characteristics likely varied somewhat are also computed to compare Robson index values for during this time period, other studies suggest that spa incident locations with similar values computed for the tial patterns, especially with respect to religious segrega city of Belfast as a whole. tion, have remained relatively stable over much of the For the purposes of this study, EDs were assigned time period (Doherty and Poole 1997) and justify use to one of three categories based on religious compo of this data set in the absence of any viable alternative. sition, as per Shirlow and Murtagh (2006). Predom Once census data were accessed, the next stage in inantly Catholic EDs are defined as those with >90 volved comparing overall trends in the spatial intensity percent Catholic residents and predominantly Protes of incident locations and home addresses of victims to tant EDs are defined as those with >90 percent Protes the spatial distribution of population density and lev tant residents. "Intermixed"' EDs are characterized as els of deprivation using GIS-based mapping techniques. those with a dominant religious community that com For deprivation, the Robson index (Robson, Bradford, prised <90 percent of the total number of residents. and Dees 1994) is used as a surrogate measure for social After mapping the spatial distribution of EDs on this and economic deprivation. The Robson index incorpo basis, the layer is used for two main purposes. First, rates nine measures of health, education, family, shelter, intensity contours are overlain for each victim group physical environment, income, and jobs to quantify over the map of religious distribution to visualize how deprivation. Greater positive Robson index values well they correspond. Then, the number of deaths indicate increasing levels of social deprivation, whereas for each victim group that fell within the three cat negative values indicate the opposite trend. Population egories of EDs is computed to help understand the spa density and Robson index values for EDs in Belfast are tial dimensions of the conflict with respect to religious then both mapped to visualize their spatial distribution. segregation.

800 Republican Loyalist 700 H State Other/Unknown 600 Civilian 500

400

300

200

IT 100

RespTVtoBm RespWlc?m Resp./VkUm RespWictim RespWictim Resp./Victim RespWictim RespWictim Rosp./Victim 1966-1970 1971-1975 1976-1980 1981-1985 1986-1990 1991-1996 1996-2000 2000-2005 2006-2007

Figure 3. Deaths by victim group and responsible party, 1966-2007.

This content downloaded from 37.219.222.99 on Tue, 07 May 2019 21:30:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 898 Mesev, Shirlow, and Downs

The final stage of the methodology determines Table 1. Civilian deaths by responsible party whether significant numbers of conflict-related deaths Civilian victim are located within close spatial proximity of commu Responsible party Other/ nity interfaces and physical barriers. These barriers are gory Group Catholic Protestant unknown euphemistically known as peacelines,2 and were erected to separate predominantly Catholic and predominantly Accidental 5 2 1 Unknown 20 12 0 Protestant communities from one another. Again, Trauma 4 1 0 intensity contours are compared to overall and victim British Army 84 12 2 specific patterns of deaths in Belfast using mapping tech RUC 14 1 0 niques as previously described for other factors. Once UDR 2 0 0 overlain, the comparison determines the spatial dis IRA 80 102 3 9 0 tance between incident locations and physical barriers Republican 53 IRA(O) 8 3 0 with the same calculation for random points within the CIRA 2 0 0 urban area of Belfast to measure whether deaths tended INLA 7 9 0 to occur closer to barriers than would be expected by IPLO 3 7 0 chance. CDL 0 1 0 DAAD 7 0 0 RIRA 1 0 0 Results Loyalist 22 15 1 LVF 4 0 0 Victim Groups and Responsible Parties UVF 178 39 1 RHC 5 2 0 Figure 3 shows temporal trends in conflict-related RHD 2 0 0 205 42 2 violence in Belfast, with the greatest number of deaths UDA/UFF PAF 12 0 0 occurring during the 1970s, much lower levels during PAG 1 0 0 the 1980s and early 1990s, and very few occurring after Catholic 0 6 0 1995. Figure 3 also compares the distribution of respon Protestant 2 0 0 sible parties and victims for each of the five major groups Total 677 307 10 over the duration of the conflict. The most striking Notes: RUC = Royal Ulster Constabulary; UDR = Ulster Defence Regi feature is that the republican and loyalist paramilitary ment; IRA = Irish Republican Army; IRA (O) = Official Irish Republican groups tended to be responsible for a greater number of Army; CIRA = Continuity Irish Republican Army; INLA = Irish National deaths than they had victims, whereas the state and lo Liberation Army; IPLO = Irish People's Liberation Organisation; CDL = Civilian Defence League; DAAD = Direct Action Against Drugs; RIRA cal government group sustained more deaths than those = Real Irish Republican Army; LVF = Loyalist Volunteer Force; UVF = for which they were directly responsible. Civilians sus Ulster Volunteer Force; RHC = Red Hand Commando; RHD = Red Hand tained a large proportion of casualties throughout the Defenders; UDAUFF = Ulster Defence Association/Ulster Freedom Fight ers; PAF = Protestant Action Force; PAG = Protestant Action Group. conflict, but as a whole, they were responsible for very few of the deaths. Tables 1 through 3 list the numbers of deaths per victim group by more specific responsible parties and were shared almost evenly between republican and causes. Catholic civilians sustained the greatest num loyalist paramilitaries, the state group, and accidents. ber of victims (677) with various loyalist paramilitary Republicans (171) were largely victims of the British groups (63 percent), the British Army (12 percent), Army (28 percent), their own group (30 percent), and and republican paramilitaries (17 percent) responsible loyalist paramilitaries (15 percent), as well as a substan for the majority of deaths. Protestant civilian causalities tial proportion of accidents (23 percent); however, if were 307 in total, with republican and loyalist paramili these data are analyzed even more carefully, less weih tary groups responsible for 57 percent and 32 percent of known messages emerge. the deaths, respectively. Only twelve Protestant civil Of the 171 victims of republican violence who were ians were killed by the British Army. State and local noncombatants, 40 were IRA members killed due to government victims (303) largely comprised of mem accidents (usually premature explosions). Nearly twice bers of the British Army, RUC, and UDR, were almost as many republicans (50) died due to internal republican exclusively victims of republican paramilitary groups, feuding or allegations of being informants compared to primarily the IRA (85 percent). Loyalist deaths (130) the 26 loyalists killed by republicans. Among the 130

This content downloaded from 37.219.222.99 on Tue, 07 May 2019 21:30:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms The Geography of Conflict and Death in Belfast, Northern Ireland 899

Table 2. State deaths by responsible party Table 3. Loyalist deaths by responsible party

Responsible party State victim Responsible party Loyalist victim

Category Group British Army RUC UDR Other Category Group UVF UDA/UFF Other Othe Accidental 0 0 1 0 Other Accident 5 0 Unknown 0 2 0 1 State British Army 4 0 State British Army 5 1 0 0 RUC 1 2 0 RUC 1 0 0 1 UDR 1 1 0 UDR 0 2 1 0 Republican IRA 8 19 0 Republican IRA 155 57 16 29 Republican 0 2 0 Republican 1 0 1 2 INLA 3 1 1 IRA(O) 2 0 0 0 IPLO 0 2 1 INLA 3 5 2 1 Loyalist LVF 1 1 0 IPLO 0 1 0 1 UVF 14 15 3 Loyalist Loyalist 1 0 1 0 RHD 0 1 0 UVF 0 2 1 3 UDA/UFF 6 20 4 UDA/UFF 0 2 2 0 Total 43 78

Notes: RUC = Royal Ulster Constabulary; UDR = Ulster Defence Regi Notes: UVF = Ulster Volunteer Force; UDA/UFF = Ulster Defence Asso ment; IRA = Irish Republican Army; IRA (O) = Official Irish Republican ciation/Ulster Freedom Fighters; RUC = Royal Ulster Constabulary; UDR Army; INLA = Irish National Liberation Army; IPLO = Irish People's Lib = Ulster Defence Regiment; IRA = Irish Republican Army; INLA = Irish eration Organisation; UVF = Ulster Volunteer Force; UDA/UFF = Ulster National Liberation Army; IPLO = Irish People's Liberation Organisation; Defence Association/Ulster Freedom Fighters. LVF = Loyalist Volunteer Force; RHD = Red Hand Defenders.

and they are most certainly not an enduring part of combatant victims of loyalist violence, excluding those the Northern Irish conflict that the rest of the world who died accidentally, a similar pattern emerges, with immediately recalls. 37 deaths of republicans and 65 deaths of loyalists. In both instances there were more victims of intraloyalist Overall Spatial Patterns and republican violence than there were between these combatant groups. As a footnote, high levels of within Overall trends in the spatial distribution of conflict community violence are rarely measured or publicized, related deaths by incident location and home address

^* ^| >2.5Std.Dev. ^ ^^|4-6 7-15

Figure 4. (a) Spatial intensity of incident locations (25 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent, and 95 percent contours) in Belfast compared to population density; and (b) spatial intensity of homes of victims compared to levels of social deprivation as measured by the Robson index.

This content downloaded from 37.219.222.99 on Tue, 07 May 2019 21:30:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 900 Mesev, Shirlow, and Downs

avmyiw Interfaces awawa Interfaces

myanw Interfaces

Figure 5. Spatial intensities of incident locations (25 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent, and 95 percent contours) by victim group compared to religious classification of ED and presence of physical interfaces, by (a) Catholic civilians, (b) Protestant civilians, (c) state, (d) loyalist paramilitaries, and (e) republican paramilitaries.

of victims displayed almost identical lates patterns the intensity (Figure of deaths to population density, il 4). This is consistent with the findings lustrating by Shir how low deathsand tended to occur in more densely Murtagh (2006), who documented populatedthat most areas victims of the city, with the highest concentra were killed very close to their homes. tion found Figure in 4athe re North and West Belfast Parliamentary

This content downloaded from 37.219.222.99 on Tue, 07 May 2019 21:30:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms The Geography of Conflict and Death in Belfast, Northern Ireland 901

Constituencies. In terms of economic distributions, Fig presence of community interfaces. Seventy-seven per ure 4b illustrates how victims tended to reside in more cent of republican deaths occurred in predominantly deprived areas of the city, as measured by the Robson Catholic EDs, with the highest intensities occurring index, whereas relatively affluent communities experi near interfaces in the center of the city (Figure 5d). enced very little impact. The burden of violence on Only 13 percent occurred in intermixed EDs and 10 per deprived communities in comparison to more affluent cent in predominantly Protestant EDs. Loyalist deaths places creates an uneven interpretation of violence be displayed the opposite corresponding pattern, with tween such places. Robson index values for the city as a 70 percent occurring in predominantly Protestant EDs, whole ranged from -11.5 to 14.8, although 77 percent 20 percent in intermixed areas, and 10 percent in of deaths occurred in EDs with Robson index values predominantly Catholic neighborhoods (Figure 5e). greater than 0 and 44 percent occurred in areas with Again, the highest intensities of deaths occurred in values greater than 5.0. Lastly, the analysis on proximity highly segregated neighborhoods in the center of Belfast to peacelines found that deaths by location of incidents that were also proximal to physical interfaces. were located at a mean 517 m (a = 539 m) from phys ical interfaces, compared to 1,412 m (a = 1, 162 m) for random points located across the Belfast urban Discussion and Conclusions area. Northern Ireland has become synonymous with Victim Group-Specific Spatial Patterns conflict and ethno-religious sectarian violence. Ex perts have focused debate extensively on the political, The five victim groups displayed different patterns paramilitary, religious, and cultural factors driving the of spatial intensity of conflict-related deaths in conflict,Belfast, yet a GIS analysis also has an important role particularly when compared to the religious classifica in helping to quantify and visualize spatial relationships tion of EDs and presence of physical interfaces between sepa the location of violence and potential explana rating religious communities (Figure 5). Incidents tory variables,of such as segregation, deprivation, and Catholic civilian deaths displayed the most widespread physical divisional barriers. To that extent, the GIS distribution of all the victim groups, with higher results inten outlined in this article suggest that the vast ma sities occurring in predominantly Catholic neighbor jority of fatalities in Belfast during the conflict occurred hoods as well as near community interfaces (Figure within 5a). segregated communities composed of over 90 Fifty-six percent of Catholic deaths occurred in percentpredom Catholics or Protestants, within areas of high inantly Catholic neighborhoods, and only 24 deprivationpercent as measured by the Robson index, and close and 20 percent occurred in predominantly Protes to peacelines. Although these results are not wholly un tant and intermixed neighborhoods, respectively. expected, On the spatial analysis provides two major con the other hand, higher intensities of Protestant tributions civil to the established literature. First, this work ian deaths were observed in predominantly Protestant demonstrates that poorer, more segregated neighbor neighborhoods that were located near community hoods in in western, northern, and central Belfast suf terfaces, with 56 percent occurring in EDs classified fered asmore fatalities and were disproportionally affected such. Approximately 47 percent of Protestant civiliansby the conflict compared to their more affluent coun died in predominantly Catholic EDs, with most ofterparts these in the southern and eastern portions of the occurring near barriers separating segregated neighbor city. Second, the GIS approach provides a structured hoods (Figure 5b). Intensities of deaths of state methodology and with which to help resolve locational dis local government victims showed a similar pattern putes to by facilitating the precise geo-referencing of vio that observed for Catholic civilians, with 80 percent lence, of along with providing rapid access to a consistent those deaths occurring in predominantly Catholic database EDs from which public policies may be formulated (Figure 5c). The intensity contour lines also tended and totested (Imrie, Pinch, and Boyle 1996). More im match the spatial pattern of physical interfaces, withportant, the this statistical approach to mapping conflict highest intensities observed in predominantly Catholic and suffering can be used to generate a more balanced neighborhoods that were bordered by predominantly debate over the legitimacy of victims, interpretations Protestant EDs. of victimhood, and the responsibility of involved par Spatial patterns of paramilitary groups also showed ties, all of which have implications for the resolution of distinct trends related to religious segregation andpeace. the

This content downloaded from 37.219.222.99 on Tue, 07 May 2019 21:30:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 902 Mesev, Shirlow, and Downs

Further, the database on conflict-related deaths in they entered neighborhoods dominated by the "other" Belfast specifically illuminates some thoughts on victim religion. representation, especially when challenging monocul In terms of conflict resolution, there is very little tural notions of responsibility. In general it is under doubt that dialogue between community representa stood that during the Troubles, republicans fought an tives has improved during recent years. So too attempts anticolonial struggle against state repression and loyal by some, many of whom are former combatants, to ist intimidation. In contrast, loyalists viewed the war challenge some of the many fractures within North as conditioned by protecting the Protestant people and ern Irish society (Shirlow and McEvoy 2008). Memo repelling the threat from armed republicans. Less is cer ries are still fresh, however, and the commemoration of tain about the role of the state as a defender because violence still plays an important part in the minds of there are no accurate figures concerning the extent of people in Northern Ireland. The paramilitary ceasefires collusion and thus state violence can only be interpreted of 1994 and the restoration of political devolution and by known responsibility; however, when analyzing the a power-sharing executive have each been progressive database, some more cogent conclusions emerge regard acts that have helped reduced the volume of political ing the nature of the conflict. The most striking finding violence (Aughey 2005); however, the legacies of hos is the comparison of violence within and between re tility remind the world of the complex nature of mistrust publican and loyalist paramilitary groups. Although the that remains between spatially polarized communities. conflict is often viewed as a struggle between these two That mistrust has also been evident in the ideologically conflicting forces, the reality is that a greater number charged battleground within which the commemora of fatalities were caused by members of victim's own tion of violence and the demand for investigations has group than the opposition. In spatial terms, the fact emerged in the postconflict period. The demand for that republican and loyalist violence took place mostly public inquiries has generally emanated within a selec within their own territories also undermines the notion tive understanding of victimhood that exploits selective that they often engaged in "heroic" actions behind "en descriptions of harm to citizens3 (Shirlow and Murtagh emy lines." The reality of violence is that loyalists usu 2006). In this postconflict situation a common under ally killed republicans within predominantly Protestant standing of this term, victimhood, is that the community territories, and that republicans often killed loyalists a person belonged to is composed of bona fide victims. within predominantly Catholic neighborhoods. Simi This does not mean that there was no sympathy for larly, much higher levels of state fatalities occurred in victims within the other community but that placing predominantly Catholic communities, which helps ex those victims on an equal plane would weaken political plain why highly segregated Catholic neighborhoods in legitimacy. the center of Belfast experienced such a high intensity Further on peace resolution, recovery groups are of the conflict compared to other areas of the city. working across intercommunity frameworks with most Additionally, the analysis shows that, although the offering counseling and therapy to survivors of the con conflict has been viewed largely as a struggle among flict. The more publicly known victims' groups gener republicans, loyalists, and state forces, it was the civil ally operate along a division between pro-unionist (and ians, both Catholic and Protestant, that suffered by far strongly anti-paramilitary) groups and anti-British state the greatest number of casualties. At the same time, groups. The main unionist political party, the Demo civilians were responsible for very few deaths, which cratic Unionist Party (DUP), also centers their victims perhaps legitimizes their status as victims of the con debate through prioritizing the victims of paramilitaries. flict. Catholic and Protestant civilian victims share this Again these sentiments are understood in the terms of legacy, but the GIS analysis of their patterns of deaths "rights" and a hierarchical understanding of victims. In points to divergent experiences of conflict with re the context set by Relatives for Justice, the state is not spect to spatial location and responsible parties, because understood as protector, as assumed by unionists, but as nearly one fourth of Catholic civilian deaths occurred in state "terrorists" who facilitated assassinations, armed predominantly Protestant neighborhoods compared to loyalist paramilitaries, and failed to examine such col 47 percent of all Protestant civilians being killed in pre lusion rigorously. Within the intercommunity vision of dominantly Catholic EDs. Although many people died postconflict recovery groups such as the Victims and close to their homes throughout the course of the con Survivors trust believe that "the most fitting memorial flict, particularly for members of paramilitary groups, to all of the victims of the war on the two islands of the reality is that many civilians were killed when Ireland and Britain will be a peaceful outcome brought

This content downloaded from 37.219.222.99 on Tue, 07 May 2019 21:30:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms The Geography of Conflict and Death in Belfast, Northern Ireland 903

about through dialogue, understanding and the promo Downs, J. A., and M. W. Horner. 2008. Effects of point tion of the truth." Emphasis on the word all evokes a dis pattern shape on home range estimates. Journal of Wildlife Management 72:1813-18. course of mutual engagement, the tackling of isolation Fay, M. T., M. Morrissey, and M. Smyth. 1998. Mapping and conflict-related harm, and the removal of barriers troubles-related deaths in Northern Ireland 1969-1998. to civic participation among survivors, irrespective of Londonderry, UK: INCORE. their background. "Promotion of truth," too, is a key Fotheringham, A. S., C. Brunsdon, and M. Charlton. 2000. Quantitative geography: Perspectives on spatial data analysis. phrase, as it suggests part of the peace resolution pro London: Sage. cess is acknowledging the true nature of the conflict Imrie, R., S. Pinch, and M. Boyle. 1996. Identity, citizenship and coming to terms with it. Finally, this article has and power in cities. Urban Studies 33:1255-61. shown how the mapping and GIS analysis of patterns McDowell, S. 2008. Commemorating dead "men": Gen of conflict-related deaths can be used to uncover new dering the past and present in post-conflict North ern Ireland. Gender, Place and Culture 15 (4): patterns in their distribution and contribute to debates 335-54. on the responsibility of involved parties and legacies of McEvoy, K. 2007. Truth, transition and reconciliation: Dealing victims. with the past in Northern Ireland. Portland, OR: Willan. McKittrick, D., S. Kelters, B. Feeney, C. Thornton, and D. McVea. 2004. Lost lives: The stories of the men, women Notes and children who died as a result of the Northern Ireland Troubles. Edinburgh, UK: Mainstream. 1. The terms Protestant and Catholic are used, although the McPeake, J. 1998. Religion and residential search be conflict in Northern Ireland was not driven by religious haviour in the Belfast urban area. Urban Studies 13: dogma but the variant constitutional beliefs of these com 527-48. munities. Catholics and Protestants do not necessarily Mesev, V., R. S. Courtney, J. A. Downs, P. Shirlow, and view themselves as either Irish or British, respectively; A. Binns. 2008. Measuring and mapping conflict-related however, in the main discourses that constitute the no deaths and segregation: lessons from the Belfast "trou tion of identity in Northern Ireland, the terms Protestant bles." In Geospatial technologies and homeland security: Re and Catholic are used to delineate the construction of search frontiers and future challenges, ed. D. Z. Sui, 83-102. victimhood. New York: Springer. 2. Interfaces are denoted as the zones between Catholic and Murray, R. 1982. Political violence in Northern Ireland Protestant communities. Peacelines are defensive physi 1969-1977. In Integration and division: Geographical per cal walls that were built to reduce the capacity to cross spectives in the Northern Ireland problem, ed. F. W. Boal between communities. We derived our location of peace and J. N. H. Douglas, 42-64. London: Academic. lines from high spatial resolution imagery of Belfast taken Poole, M. 1983. The demography of violence. In Northern in 1999. Ireland: The background to the conflict, ed. J. Darby, 18 3. It should be acknowledged that former loyalist and repub 37. Belfast, UK: Appletree Press. lican prisoner groups are debating the nature and conse Robson, B., M. Bradford, and I. Dees. 1994. Relative depri quences of their violence. vation in Northern Ireland. Occasional Paper No. 28, Centre for Urban Policy Studies, Policy Planning and References Research Unit, Manchester University. Schellenberg, J. A. 1977. Area variations of violence in Amnesty International. 1994. Political killings in Northern Northern Ireland. Sociological Focus 10:69-78. Ireland. London: Amnesty International. Shirlow, P., and K. McEvoy. 2008. Beyond the wire: Former Aughey, A. 2005. The politics of Northern Ireland: Beyond the prisoners and conflict transformation in Northern Ireland. London: Pluto Press. Belfast Agreement. London and New York: Routledge. Cosgrove, D., and S. Daniels. 1988. The iconography of land Shirlow, P., and B. Murtagh. 2006. Belfast: Segregation, vio scape: Essays on the symbolic representation, design and use lence and the city. London: Pluto Press. of past. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Silverman, B. W. 1986. Density estimation for statistics and data Doherty, P. M., and A. Poole. 1997. Ethnic residential seg analysis. London: Chapman Hall. regation in Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1971-1991. Geo Sutton, M. 1994. An index of deaths from the conflict in Ireland graphical Review 87:520-36. 1969-1993. Belfast, UK: Beyond the Pale. Douglas, N., and P. Shirlow. 1998. People in conflict in place: Verdery, K. 1999. The political lives of dead bodies: Reburial The case of Northern Ireland. Political Geography 17:125 and postsocialist change. New York: Columbia University 28. Press.

Correspondence: Department of Geography, The Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-1480, e-mail: [email protected] (Mesev); School of Law, Queen's University, Belfast, Northern Ireland BT7 INN, e-mail: [email protected] (Shirlow); Department of Geography, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, e-mail: [email protected] (Downs).

This content downloaded from 37.219.222.99 on Tue, 07 May 2019 21:30:55 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms