This dissertation explores the relationship between working-class nationalists, the IRA and the state in Ulster. I treat terrorism and terrorists as social constructions, and argue that the state adopted an ideological approach to counter terrorism which reflected a particular way of defining it and prescribed a straightforward solution. "Counter-terror ideology," as I describe it, is a widely transferable, state ideology that fetishizes non-state violence, treats terrorism as irrational, apolitical, and a security problem, rather than a socio-political one. Though the security first solution it prescribes is historically ineffective, governments consistently re-invest in it because it serves ruling class interests by enabling governments to define political violence as a straightforward security problem, thus pushing a host of disconcerting social questions to one side, and obfuscating the need for reform, in the face of an all-consuming moral imperative to physically eliminate terrorists.;Early chapters focus on the state and the "community relations" aspect of its war against the IRA. In 1969, under enormous pressure, the Belfast regime created the "Community Relations Commission," charged with finding ways of healing Northern Irish society. The Commission rejected counter-terror ideology and fought a losing battle to make the Government acknowledge the great harm the security approach was doing and to address the "troubles" as a set of socio-political problems. The Commission drew enormous hostility from the government, vividly demonstrating the depth and power of counter-terror ideology, and the state's inability to countenance even moderate alternative views.;Later chapters address the relationship between the IRA and working-class nationalist communities. The state represented IRA Volunteers as gangsters who simply terrorized their neighbors. The IRA was, however, an integral part of these neighborhoods and its relationship with the broader community was more complex. Chapters 4-6 attempt to recreate aspects of this relationship as they were experienced on the ground---not as they were supposed to have been experienced according to counter-terror ideology. These include collective experiences of state violence, the IRA's role in intra-communal conflict, various services it provided and its policing of internal crime.
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