Understanding the persistence of armed/paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland

The authors of this paper have spent many years working on peace building in Northern Ireland. The document is our attempt to provide a simple way of understanding a set of complex social practices. We hope that it adds to the discussion on how we further ensure and sustain positive peace.

We have drawn on our collective knowledge to identify what we believe are the three main features that define paramilitary/armed groups in contemporary Northern Ireland – Legitimacy, Utility and Threat. These key features are consistent, although they have manifested differently over time. It is our view that their existence goes some way to explaining the persistence of paramilitary /armed groups in the region.