Utilizing Spoiling Opportunities as a Terror Strategy: The Irish Republican Army
When an act of terrorism occurs, it can often seem like random, mindless violence to the victims and the bystanders. It can be surprising, therefore, to realize that terrorism is actually a very strategic decision. Terrorism can be very effective, used usually when a group is not strong enough to directly confront and force a policy change from a state actor, choosing instead to persuade their target by showing publicly the costs that they can impose for not complying. According to Kydd and Walter (2006), there are five primary strategies that are utilized when engaging in acts of terrorism, these five being attrition, intimidation, provocation, spoiling, and …show more content…
When these attacks then occur, it’s unclear whether the moderates are either incapable of stopping the terrorists, or do not want to. At this time, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was directed by an underground network comprised of Sinn Fein’s cabinet and another nationalist group, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (Bright, 1994). Their strategy at this time was spoiling, through assassinations and ambushes for symbols of the crown and collaborators. Rather than giving Ireland the Home Rule their ministers had been fighting for in British Parliament, the British government responded by sending more troops to support the Irish policemen in the form of former soldiers who were harsh, violent, and hard to control, and guerrilla war kicked off that lasted until 1921. The actions of this militant group continued to stir the mistrust that the English and the Irish had against each other until England reacted, legitimizing their “concerns” and keeping the conflict alive, in one of their first successful uses of the strategy of
When an act of terrorism occurs, it can often seem like random, mindless violence to the victims and the bystanders. It can be surprising, therefore, to realize that terrorism is actually a very strategic decision. Terrorism can be very effective, used usually when a group is not strong enough to directly confront and force a policy change from a state actor, choosing instead to persuade their target by showing publicly the costs that they can impose for not complying. According to Kydd and Walter (2006), there are five primary strategies that are utilized when engaging in acts of terrorism, these five being attrition, intimidation, provocation, spoiling, and …show more content…
When these attacks then occur, it’s unclear whether the moderates are either incapable of stopping the terrorists, or do not want to. At this time, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) was directed by an underground network comprised of Sinn Fein’s cabinet and another nationalist group, the Irish Republican Brotherhood (Bright, 1994). Their strategy at this time was spoiling, through assassinations and ambushes for symbols of the crown and collaborators. Rather than giving Ireland the Home Rule their ministers had been fighting for in British Parliament, the British government responded by sending more troops to support the Irish policemen in the form of former soldiers who were harsh, violent, and hard to control, and guerrilla war kicked off that lasted until 1921. The actions of this militant group continued to stir the mistrust that the English and the Irish had against each other until England reacted, legitimizing their “concerns” and keeping the conflict alive, in one of their first successful uses of the strategy of