Does the end justify the means? Examining the relationship between the Ulster Defence Association and the British Government

Abstract

Since the late 1980s, claims were made about possible collusion between Loyalist paramilitaries and the Security Forces in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. The largest loyalist paramilitary organization was the Ulster Defence Organization (UDA). A remarkable fact is that the British Government waited to proscribe the UDA as a terrorist organization until 1992. Must this be seen as a corroboration of the claims of collusion? Did the British Government went too far in the Northern Ireland conflict, losing sight of their democratic principles? What where their motives for possibly treating the UDA differently as the IRA? In this thesis, answers will be sought to these questions. Several types of documents will be analysed to examine the relationship between the UDA and the British Government. These documents will include literature about the UDA and the Troubles, parliamentary debates between the outset of the Troubles and the moment of proscription of the UDA in 1992 and unclassified British policy documents from the British National Archives that are made available about proscription of the UDA.