Conclusion

Abstract

The testimony used in this book reveals a range of points in relation to how loyalism has adapted to the demands of the peace process. The influences of nationalism and religion still impact on the Unionist imagination, and the social and political world continues to be witnessed through the literal interpretations of an individualistically determined worldview. A tendency for Loyalists to pursue violence throughout the peace process, but more especially against each other, can also be seen as an expression of this imagination and its existential nature, where responsibility is tied to individual experience and where community defence has all too often been manipulated for individual gain. But, alongside this tendency, there have been some notable shifts in how the political and social world is being understood which appear to parallel changes brought about by the peace process. The orthodoxy of extreme religious belief and its association with paramilitarism, for example, is no longer as certain or pervasive among paramilitaries. Indeed, for many, there is considerable criticism towards the use of fundamentalist religious rhetoric, as well as a growing cynicism and suspicion towards its social and political relevance.