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14 Comp. Pol. Stud. 3 (1981-1982)

handle is hein.journals/compls14 and id is 1 raw text is: This article addresses the need to relate theoretical statements on the causes of political violence to micro-level activity. Gurr's relative deprivation model is reviewed and some modifications are suggested. His theory, the modifications, and a number of possible alternatives or additions to the theory are then tested against data from a survey of Roman Catholic political activists in Northern Ireland. The analysis suggests that disobedient and violent forms of antiregime behavior have quite different causes; that the connection between RD and violence is less direct than Gurr suggests; and that dissidence plays a more important role than that accorded it in the relative deprivation model. DISOBEDIENCE AND VIOLENCE IN NORTHERN IRELAND TERRANCE G. CARROLL Brock University St. Catharines, Canada S ectarian violence has long been an unhappy feature of life in Northern Ireland, but in the decade after the riots of 1969 Ulster- men killed one another as a result of political disputes at a rate which is entirely unprecedented in the history of the province.' Unhappiness with the political situation in Northern Ireland was endemic during the seventies. Indeed, that was the only reasonable reaction to a state of constitutional limbo designed to please no one. But for most people the step from political dissidence to armed rebellion is immense. Dissidence may lead a person to adopt any one of a number of different courses of action. One common reaction is to do nothing other than grumble. Among the activist segment of the public, some people AUTHOR'S NOTE: My interest in Northern Ireland was stimulated by Robert J. Jackson of Carleton University, Ottawa, and my research over the past decade benefited greatly from his guidance and advice. I am pleased to be able to acknowledge my indebtedness to him. COMPARATIVE POLITICAL STUDIES, vol. 14 No. I, April 1981 3-29 © 1981 Sage Publications, Inc. 3