The State of Loyalism in Northern Ireland by Graham Spencer
Palgrave Macmillan, £50
DEMOCRATIC Loyalism may have saved Gordon Brown earlier this year in the 42 day detention vote, but Ulster Loyalism holds the key to saving the Irish peace process. That’s why Graham Spencer’s work is so valuable – and timely – in the current realignment of Protestant politics in Northern Ireland.
The central value of his work is the necessity to differentiate between political Unionism and working class Loyalism. With the Stormont power-sharing executive between the DUP and Sinn Fein operating – current problems after Peter Robinson succeeded Ian Paisley notwithstanding – since May 2007, Spencer leaves the reader in no doubt that Unionism and Loyalism may not be singing from the same political hymn sheet any more.
Loyalist death squads were responsible for hundreds of murders and sectarian attacks during the conflict and the main Loyalist paramilitaries have yet to begin decommissioning their arsenals. And this book is the first of its kind to explain how Loyalist terrorism has responded to the transition from conflict to post-conflict society in Northern Ireland.
Its credibility is that Spencer, Reader in Politics, Conflict and the Media at Portsmouth University, draws from original interviews with key players in the British and Irish governments along with intermediaries, clergy, political representatives and paramilitary leaders. The end result is a cleverly woven analysis unveiling a compelling contemporary political history through the perspectives of direct dialogue which should satisfy the reader whether he is looking at the situation from inside or outside Ireland.
His effectively balanced writing style provides a sophisticated analysis of political Loyalism and its responses to social and political change in Northern Ireland. Spencer’s work is a “must have” to understanding the role of Loyalism, both in the Northern Ireland conflict, and in keeping the peace process fairly stable since the Loyalist ceasefire of 1994.
Given that Loyalism since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement has largely descended into internal anarchy and bloody feuding, another mark is how well he takes the reader though the at times confusing and introverted world of Ulster Loyalism. This has been achieved by the competent structuring of his analysis of Loyalism into nine clearly defined sections.
One definite conclusion comes in the section evaluating Loyalism’s at times strained relationship with the media. This must be seen in the light of rival Republicanism’s slick propaganda machine and the ability of the Republican terror groups to explain the justification of their cause. Because of the internal feuds, Loyalism has sometimes even had great difficulty explaining its direction and sense of purpose to its own supporters.
Another major conclusion is the failure of the mainly rural middle class Unionist parties to represent adequately the demands of the largely urban working class Protestant Loyalist movement. Significantly, and unlike Sinn Fein, Loyalism has been unable – indeed incapable – of mobilising working class Protestants to support the parties speaking for the Loyalist death squads. Loyalism may want peace, but is it at peace with itself, and how does it achieve the healing of these internal wounds?
Neither Spencer nor any other Irish political guru can, of course, provide the answers to those questions, but he does brilliantly set out the position of Loyalism in Ireland today and how it got there.
John Coulter
