The crowned harp

"The Crowned Harp provides a detailed analysis of policing in Northern Ireland. Tracing the s history of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), Ellison and Smyth portray the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) as an organisation burdened by its past as a colonial police force. They analyse its perceived close relationship with unionism and why, for many nationalists, the RUC embodied the problem of the legitimacy of Northern Ireland. Ellison and Smyth argue that decisions made on the organisation, composition and ideology of policing in the early years of the State had consequences which went beyond the everyday practice of policing. Ellison and Smyth provide an extended discussion of policing after the outbreak of civil unrest in 1969. They ask why policing was cast in a paramilitary mould, and look at the use of special constabularies and the way in which the police dealt with social unrest which threatened to break down sectarian divisions. Examining the reorganisations of the RUC in the 1970s and 1980s, Ellison and Smyth focus on the various structural, legal and ideological components, the professionalisation of the force and the development of a coherent, if contradictory, ideology. The analysis of the RUC during this period sheds light on the problematic nature of using the police as a counter insurgency force in a divided society." -- Book cover.