The Information Research Department, Unattributable Propaganda, and Northern Ireland, 1971–1973

Promising Salvation but Ending in Failure

Bibliographic Data

ID9740856
AuthorsRory Cormac (0000-0002-6273-0821, University of Nottingham 1, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume131
Issue552
Pages1074-1104
Publication date2016-10-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe English Historical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-8266 • E-ISSN: 1477-4534
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ehr/cew342
OpenAlexW2493289088
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited1

This article examines the role of the Information Research Department (IRD) 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 in operations on British soil; how IRD propaganda fitted into the broader British state apparatus in Northern Ireland; the activity in which the IRD was engaged—both in Northern Ireland and beyond; and some of the challenges it faced, which ultimately limited the campaign’s effectiveness. It argues that the IRD’s role was driven by decisions taken at the very top of government and took shape against a context of financial cuts, a deteriorating security situation in Northern Ireland, and a tradition of domestic propaganda in the UK. The IRD sought to advance 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

Archaeology · Communism · Context (archaeology · Credibility · Ethnology · Government (linguistics · Northern ireland · Political science · Politics · Population · Sociology · State (computer science · Terrorism · Demography · History · Irish and British Studies · Law · Public Administration

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