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Political communication in the Republic of Ireland

and often conflicting aims. In particular, the comparison with the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging in post-apartheid South Africa neatly illustrates the intra-group focus on place-based loyalty and aspirations towards ‘purity’ (184), which are so often evident in loyalist discourses. There are two, minor limitations to the text. Firstly, despite conducting a lengthy, ethnographic study of loyalist paramilitaries, no mention is given to the women who, whilst a minority, especially relative to their republican counterparts, played a key role in loyalism as an identity. Secondly, one of Reed’s primary findings – that loyalism is a localised identity (54), with identity-bearers placing no moral limits on what they will do in order to protect their communities (55), presents a challenge for those, such as Dr David Magee, whose doctoral thesis, ‘The Deconstruction of Violent Masculinities Amongst Ulster Loyalists’ (2013) focused on the transformation of violent masculinities, and seeks to provide loyalists with alternative ways to support and lead their local communities. This critique is a practical one, as the study itself advances the theoretical body of research on loyalism, and in addition, contains an innovative, historical exploration of the conflict, from 1965 to 2007.