Journal: Irish Political Studies

Analyses of the Irish Republican Army’s 1969/1970 splintering have run the gamut of historical, political, and sociological methodologies and thematic focuses. However, studies focusing primarily on rhetoric and discourse theory as a means of understanding this episode of intra-movement contention are less prominent. This article contributes to the existent literature in three key ways: by explicating the differing narrative modes Republican leaders adopted during their discursive contestations; by contextualising these modes within specific temporal and territorial environments; and by analysing the appropriateness of their modalities during moments of rhetorical contention. It argues that the Goulding-led IRA were hampered by the frames they reconstructed, and partially entrenched, during their leftward political turn prior to 1969. Consequently, fallout from the Republican Movement’s division created room for rhetorical assault by a localised, more narratively promiscuous Provisional movement.

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Darren Colbourne

Darren is a doctoral candidate in history at Queen’s University Belfast. His dissertation focuses on the political identificational development of Northern Ireland's People's Democracy, comparing their evolution to other mobilisations of the global New Left. His work uses cases not only from Northern Ireland's 'Long Sixties', but also similar movements in the Untied States.