Contextualizing the biographical outcomes of Provisional IRA former activists: a structure-agency dynamic

This chapter shows how, in the case of the Northern Ireland conflict (1968–1998, also known as the ‘troubles’), the British counter-terrorist policies and reintegration programs have produced the external factors and forces that have in part shaped the post-armed activism lives of the Provisional IRA (henceforth PIRA) volunteers. The majority of activists did not follow British reintegration programmes in the way they were designed to function, that is, by integrating disengaged Republicans into state structures and/or transform them into obedient, passive citizens of the British state. Rather the large majority of former PIRA activists formed their post-armed activism lives with their own agency and previ- ous skills learned while in the armed group and in prison, and became involved in community activism.