The PIRA realised that cohesion could not be solely obtained by sharing a common goal and providing military training: its constituents had to feel as active participants of the organisation. Kenny (2010:551) further argues that the interaction with state forces and the effects of indiscriminate violence will influence the institutions of an organisation. Real IRA Principles The Real IRA rejected the principle of non-violent resolution that formed the basis of the ceasefire negotiations. The name IRA has been in use since the organization was founded in 1921. The IRA is thought to consist of up to 400 members and several thousand auxiliary supporters and sympathizers who could be called upon in emergency circumstances. Furthermore, members of the IRA shared different backgrounds: ‘much of the rest of the IRA Army council in Dublin did not share the same experience of Protestant pogroms in the Catholic ghettoes of the North, there was a strong feeling that the Army Council no longer represented the interests of the people’ (Kenny, 2010:539). Telling the Difference: Guerrillas and Paramilitaries in the Colombian War. (2013). Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. Woldemariam, M. H. (2011). “Building Back Better” with Allan Bonner and Matt Gurney, Troy Media: Why we shouldn’t rubber-stamp 5G technology, The Need for a Comprehensive, Multidimensional, Multinational Approach to Counter the Islamic State (Part 2), The Need for a Comprehensive, Multidimensional, Multinational Approach to Counter the Islamic State, Crowd control and security for Manchester United, The Drive: Blasting The Air In Front Of Hypersonic Vehicles With Lasers Could Unlock Unprecedented Speeds. This understanding of cohesion will also encompass two other terms: ‘primary cohesion’, as the positive nature of horizontal and vertical bonds between group members in sharing a sense of mutual responsibility and trust; and ‘secondary cohesion’, ‘as the extent to which individuals identify with armed group organisations as a whole’ (Schubiger, 2015:8; Wood, 2009:137). In Boix, C. and Susan C. Stokes (eds.) Ideology in civil war. Throughout the literature, scholars have evidenced how ideology helps create a collective identity (Lichbach, 1998:92) and how it delineates the organisational structure of an armed group (Sanin and Wood 2014; Weinstein, 2007:196). Written by: Valeria Scuto (2006). Their targets include the police in Northern Ireland, Protestant communities in Northern Ireland, the British military, and civilians, according to the State Department. Manchester: Manchester University Press. When the first Irish assembly was declared in 1918 under the leadership of Sinn Féin, the IRA was considered the official army of the state. A stronger societal network will shape a more integrated armed group, also within the community, and establish a more cohesive organisation (Staniland, 2014). Within this framework, this paper will consider that if strong institutions contribute to a higher degree of cohesion and if ‘ideologies provide the blueprint for institutions’ (Sanin and Wood, 2014:220) then the latter should have a role in understanding cohesion and fragmentation within an armed group. The meaning of culture. In this context, ideology can serve as an important complementary explanation to understand the institutional-cohesive strength of a rebel organisation. Therefore, if all organisations rely on institutions to socialize, indoctrinate and discipline their members, not all insurgent organisations rely on them in the same way. From this fragmentation, the PIRA was formed and following the establishment of the Northern Ireland Government in 1971 and the events of Bloody Sunday in 1972, its members increased rapidly (Dingley, 2012). PhD Thesis. Ideologically strong organisations will further commit to more thorough political training as the ‘formal instruction that explains specific social or political purposes of a particular conflict’ and connect them ‘to specific behavioural norms’ (Hoover Green, 2016:625; Zelina 2016). The IRA is a strictly paramilitary organization. Through the last 200 years, the concept of terrorism has been used to, RIRA: Description of group Cohesion and Ideological Strength: The IRA and the PIRA. Journal of Peace Research, 51(2): 213-226. However, from the mid-1970s onwards, the Official republican movement became increasingly focused on achieving its aims through left-wing constitutional politics. It is also the role of the Army Executive to select the members of the Army Council. PhD Thesis. [44], Official IRA "mobile patrol" in Turf Lodge, Belfast, April 1972, The split in the Republican movement, 1969–1970, Statement from Cathal Goulding, C/S of the Official IRA, in early 1972, quoted in.