The moral wall: explaining participation and non-participation in political violence and terrorism from a survey of the Provisional IRA

Why some people participate in political violence and terrorism, and others do not, even when they share ideological frames, identities, perceptions, grievances and interests, neighborhoods or social networks, and are generally from similar contexts and backgrounds, and share similar experiences, is a puzzle for social scientists. When individuals share values, environments and experiences, their motivations for violent action should be similar, leading to similar levels of participation. In fact, we find from our survey of the Provisional IRA that the opposite is the case. A moral wall of preparedness to kill and die for a cause is the key distinction between participants and non-participants.