After achieving significant progress in the 1960s, many Americans stopped focusing on the active defense of democracy. This created a void that the radical right filled by offering its followers a powerful sense of agency and a compelling national narrative, which liberal movements had ceased to provide.

Both loyalist and republican paramilitaries in the 1960s saw themselves as inheritors of an earlier tradition. Groups like the UVF consciously modeled themselves on Sir Edward Carson's 1912 Ulster Volunteers, using this historical precedent to legitimize their violence.

When a political movement is out of power, it's easy to unify against a common opponent. Once they gain power and become the establishment, internal disagreements surface, leading to factions and infighting as they debate the group's future direction.

The conflict devolved into a horrifying cycle of revenge bombings targeting civilians in neutral spaces like pubs and shops. The IRA would bomb a Protestant pub, and Loyalist paramilitaries would retaliate against a Catholic one. This pattern culminated in an IRA bomb that killed two toddlers in a pram.

Following a disastrous border campaign, IRA leader Cathal Goulding shifted the organization's focus from armed struggle. Influenced by British Marxists, he advocated for a nonsectarian workers' alliance, leaving traditional republicans feeling betrayed and creating an ideological vacuum.

Many long-serving IRA members felt the Good Friday Agreement was a betrayal. They had committed terrible acts, believing they had sold their "immortal souls" for the ultimate prize of a united Ireland. Settling for a power-sharing government made their violent sacrifices feel meaningless and futile.

To articulate their identities, both Unionists and Nationalists drew parallels with international conflicts. Unionists saw themselves as a besieged people like Israelis, while Nationalists identified with Palestinians, using these global narratives to legitimize their local grievances.

A study of Spain's 15M movement showed that an episode of violence had little effect on core supporters but caused a 12% drop in support from sympathetic but unaligned citizens. This hinders a movement’s ability to grow its base, a key factor for success.

A heavy-handed British Army curfew and house-search operation in Belfast's Catholic Falls Road area in 1970 permanently destroyed community relations. The perception of abuse turned the army from peacekeepers into an occupying force, providing the Provisional IRA with a flood of new, motivated recruits.