Northern Ireland is an abnormal political and social formation which, for a large proportion of its population, has lacked political and democratic legitmacy. As a consequence of this, the modalities of state intervention in the private sphere—the family—have been similarly abnormal. The discussion examines these interventions in relation to child abuse and domestic violence. It is argued that these social policy discourses are destabilized in the six counties and that the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and Health and Social Services Board personnel have not been able to intervene in the same way as their counterparts might in Britain and the Irish Republic.
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