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The Information Research Department, Unattributable Propaganda, and Northern Ireland, 1971–1973: Promising Salvation but Ending in Failure?

Cormac, Rory

Authors

RORY CORMAC RORY.CORMAC@NOTTINGHAM.AC.UK
Professor of International Relations



Abstract

This article examines the role of the IRD (Information Research Department) in Northern Ireland during the first half of the 1970s. After discussing British conceptualisations of propaganda, it offers a detailed account of IRD activity, including how a Foreign Office department came to be involved on British soil; how IRD propaganda fitted into the broader apparatus in Northern Ireland; the activity in which the IRD was engaged – both in Northern Ireland and beyond; and some of the challenges faced which limited the campaign’s effectiveness. It argues that the IRD’s role was driven from the very top of government and came against a context of cuts, a deteriorating security situation in Northern Ireland, and a tradition of domestic propaganda in the UK. IRD activity pressed four key themes: exploiting divisions within the IRA; undermining the IRA’s credibility amongst the population; linking the IRA to international terrorism; and portraying the IRA as communist.

Citation

Cormac, R. (2016). The Information Research Department, Unattributable Propaganda, and Northern Ireland, 1971–1973: Promising Salvation but Ending in Failure?. English Historical Review, 131(552), 1074-1104. https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cew342

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jul 14, 2016
Online Publication Date Dec 6, 2016
Publication Date Dec 6, 2016
Deposit Date Jul 20, 2016
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal English Historical Review
Print ISSN 0013-8266
Electronic ISSN 1477-4534
Publisher Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 131
Issue 552
Pages 1074-1104
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/ehr/cew342
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/807819
Publisher URL http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/content/131/552/1074.full
Additional Information This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in The English Historical Review following peer review. The version of record The Information Research Department, Unattributable Propaganda, and Northern Ireland, 1971–1973: Promising Salvation but Ending in Failure? /
Rory Cormac. Vol. 131, issue 552, pp. 1074-1104 is available online at: http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/content/131/552/1074.full

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