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Conflict in Northern Ireland
From: London School of Economics and Political Science
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 o thoroughly comprehend "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland one needs to travel beyond the headlines into the chequered and complex history of the conflict. Yet, apart from news reports and the information provided by organisations with their own agenda, there has been little serious analysis and background to the conflict that is easily available online and in the public domain. |
In 1996, this landscape was changed by the establishment of the CAIN (Conflict Archive on the Internet) project at the University of Ulster. CAIN (cain.ulst.ac.uk) provides a prodigious amount of information and source material on the Troubles in Northern Ireland from 1968 to the present day. Dr. Martin Melaugh of the University of Ulster, the project manager for CAIN, says: "When the CAIN project began in early 1996 there was little information about the conflict on the Internet. All the various political groupings and campaigning groups have since placed material on the Web outlining their particular views on Northern Ireland." But the CAIN project does retain a badge of distinctiveness. According to Melaugh, "It provides a large amount of information about the whole period of conflict." |
The site began mainly as a scholarly resource, but, with information ranging from basic summaries to specialist enquiries into particular aspects of the conflict, there is something for everyone. Melaugh says, "In addition to academics, the general public do make use of the site, as do news agencies; I get a lot of e-mail and telephone calls from reporters." Interest comes from all over the world. "Approximately one-third of users are from Britain and Ireland, one third from the USA, and one third from Europe and the rest of the world," Melaugh says. |
Issues are not dealt with fleetingly on the site. It is divided into three main areas: key events, key issues and conflict background. Such a division ensures that virtually every aspect of the Troubles is examined from a multitude of angles. The key events span the recent history of the Troubles, ranging from the emergence of the civil-rights campaign in the 1960s, to internment in the 1970s, to the hunger strike in 1981 and the evolving peace process. Other landmark events on the site include the Derry March in 1968, Bloody Sunday and Bloody Friday. Melaugh describes the key events as "ones that were considered to be major turning points in the course of the conflict in Northern Ireland." |
Accompanying each of these events is a reading list with extensive extracts from recommended books, a detailed time line, summaries, background information, details of organisations and a list of source material. More often than not, the source list contains links to the sources themselves, even when such sources are scarce. Some of the booklets amd pamphlets scanned weret were published as far back as the late 1960s. Issues of concern in the Troubles, which include discrimination, policing, cross-community marriage, employment and parades (to name just a few), are dealt with in similar detail. |
The subject is riven with political sensitivities, and this is something that the academics who put CAIN together have had to negotiate. "We try to provide a balance," Melaugh says. "So, if a particular issue is covered we seek to present opposing views on the matter." But he points out that there are also wider sensitivities than merely political ones. One of the most unique aspects of the site is the searchable database of deaths caused by the conflict. "One of the major databases on the site provides information on the 3,468 deaths that occurred between 1969 and 1998," Melaugh says. "It took a while to negotiate access to the information, but we felt that it would act as a memorial to the people who lost their lives as a result of the conflict." |
Other special features include photographic testaments to centres of conflict in loyalist and republican areas and a list of films about the Troubles. Appreciative users have written to Melaugh, highlighting sections that have been particularly useful to them. He says, "Many people commented favourably on the structure of the database, which helps them to track down information-searchable databases, such as the bibliography of conflict, and the databases on television programmes." |
Melaugh asserts, "We don't have a political agenda, so we are not trying to highlight any particular issue over others. We are simply trying to assist people who are researching the conflict or politics of the region." But it has proved difficult to avoid the incidental by-products of dealing with conflict on the Internet: "In doing the work, we do have to address such matters as issues related to copyright, the problems of dealing with a controversial topics and coaxing people to contribute to the site." |
Nonetheless, with more than 1.1 million visits and more than 5.4 million hits, and having been singled out for commendation by the BBC and the Chronicle for Higher Education, the CAIN project is clearly proving useful and popular not only with the scholarly public its creators originally aimed for but with a wider thinking public as well. |
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