Armed Struggle: A Comparative Study of the IRA and ETA

Mgr. Cheray Lenore Hogan, B.A.

Master's thesis

Abstract:

This thesis is a descriptive comparative study of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA). The aim of the paper is to prove that, notwithstanding a number of similarities, there were fundamental differences between the two terrorist organizations throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It is argued that those differences ultimately led the insurgent groups to take divergent paths toward the attainment of their goals in the 1990s. In this work, it is argued further that a truly comprehensive understanding of both the IRA and ETA requires a thorough appreciation of the singular factors that distinguish the two organizations, and not merely an awareness of the analogous qualities which were the focus of earlier normative comparative studies. The findings of this paper reveal that there were six attributes which profoundly differentiated the two terrorist organizations, and the struggles which they waged. Those attributes made the IRA conducive to transformation, but made ETA resistant to change. The IRA was thus able to chart a new course toward the fulfillment of the group s objectives in the 1990s, while the course of ETA’s struggle remained essentially the same.

Keywords

Armed Struggle, Terrorism in Europe

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 10. 12. 2009

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 12. 1. 2010
• Supervisor: prof. PhDr. Vít Hloušek, Ph.D.
• Reader: prof. JUDr. PhDr. Miroslav Mareš, Ph.D.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Social Studies

Master programme / field:
Political Science / European Politics (Eng.)