The Management of Death and the Dynamics of an Ethnic Conflict: The Case of the 1980-81 Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) Hunger Strikes in Northern Ireland

This work explains how the management of death can impact the dynamics of ethnic conflicts. It explores alternative ways of handling death, and demonstrates how the use of these strategies can shape and impact feelings and perceptions to a major extent. The objective is to investigate the beliefs and motivations of hunger strikers, especially with respect to their social environment, and to better understand why certain persons use their own bodies as lethal weapons. If we can identify the cause(s) of this phenomenon, we can suggest potential responses to it. It is also important to examine the ways that groups with diverse political interests make ceremonial use of the dead person’s corpse, and how they exploit the memory of the deceased to influence perceptions and feelings. These acts can have an impact on decision-making and conflict behaviour, and thus influence conflict dynamics and conflict resolution processes.