Abstract

The article reconsiders a previous debate in Terrorism and Political Violence on whether the IRA's campaign was sectarian. It does this through an examination of the campaign against part-time members of the Ulster Defence Regiment in Fermanagh and Tyrone during the Troubles. It concludes that those who argue that the campaign was anti- state , not anti-Protestant, while correct about its motivation, ignore its effects on the protestant minority's perception of the campaign and their very existence in these borderlands. It also rejects the depiction of the campaign as form of 'ethnic cleansing'.