Frank Burton – författare

First published in 1979, Official Discourse is an unofficial report of theoretical investigations into a specific state of practice- the publication of reports of official inquiries into law, order and justice issues. The commissions, tribunals and committees of inquiry scrutinized in this book examine problems arising from wrongful imprisonment, police corruption, industrial picketing, and communal rioting and internment in Northern Ireland. Focusing on the reasons why government reports take the form they do, the authors venture into the areas of linguistics, psychoanalysis and Marxism. The book is an exercise in discourse analysis, an exercise in theoretical work that looks at the relationships between theory and literary production, and a critique of official conceptions of law, order and justice.

First published in 1979, Official Discourse is an unofficial report of theoretical investigations into a specific state of practice- the publication of reports of official inquiries into law, order and justice issues. The commissions, tribunals and committees of inquiry scrutinized in this book examine problems arising from wrongful imprisonment, police corruption, industrial picketing, and communal rioting and internment in Northern Ireland. Focusing on the reasons why government reports take the form they do, the authors venture into the areas of linguistics, psychoanalysis and Marxism. The book is an exercise in discourse analysis, an exercise in theoretical work that looks at the relationships between theory and literary production, and a critique of official conceptions of law, order and justice.

First published in 1978, The Politics of Legitimacy by Frank Burton examines the ideology and politics of the Provisional IRA through the socio-historical conditions of Northern Irish society. Drawing on an empirical investigation in the sociology of knowledge, Burton analyzes politicized violence broadly and focuses on one aspect of the Northern Ireland conflict in particular. His analysis is rooted in both an ethnographic study of a working-class Belfast community and theoretical traditions addressing social consciousness. Burton’s central thesis argues that the Provisional IRA’s ideology articulates the dominant categories of Northern Irish Catholic total ideology, which he defines through three interconnected elements: communalism, sectarianism, and republicanism. IRA ideology is framed as a politics of national liberation expressed through civil rights rhetoric, while the intensity of the Six County War is explained as a reflection of major ideological formations within the Catholic community. In the final chapter, Burton contrasts his analysis with press coverage and other political interpretations of the Northern Ireland conflict. This work serves as a vital historical reference for scholars and researchers of British, Irish, and political history.