Peace and Conflict Studies Volume 7 Number 1 Article 2 5-2000 Ceasefire: The Impact of Republican Political Culture on the Ceasefire Process in Northern Ireland Montgomery Sapone Yale University Follow this and additional works at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/pcs Part of the Peace and Conflict Studies Commons Recommended Citation Sapone, Montgomery (2000) "Ceasefire: The Impact of Republican Political Culture on the Ceasefire Process in Northern Ireland," Peace and Conflict Studies: Vol. 7 : No. 1 , Article 2. DOI: 10.46743/1082-7307/2000.1006 Available at: https://nsuworks.nova.edu/pcs/vol7/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Peace & Conflict Studies at NSUWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Peace and Conflict Studies by an authorized editor of NSUWorks. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Ceasefire: The Impact of Republican Political Culture on the Ceasefire Process in Northern Ireland Abstract Excerpt On August 31, 1994, the Provisional IRA (PIRA) declared a cessation of military operations. For the past thirty years, the conflict in Northern Ireland has been raging almost without pause.1 British security forces have attempted to control the violence by establishing road blocks, conducting house searches, altering the judicial system to allow conviction on informant testimony, instituting internment without trial for paramilitary suspects, garrisoning over thirty thousand British soldiers in Northern Ireland, instituting broadcasting bans of Sinn Féin, and conducting intensive interrogation of suspects. Despite the best attempts of the British government over the past few decades to thwart PIRA, the conflict persisted. oT sustain a low-intensity war under these conditions requires more than guns and ammunition; it requires the support of a political community, extensive organization of economic resources, and cultural values that give meaning to the conflict.