Interviewing combatants: lessons from the Boston College Case

Abstract

Boston College’s Burns Library established a project in 2001 which archived over 200 interviews with two non-state armed groups in Northern Ireland in order to collect primary data on the Northern Ireland conflict before the death of some of the key armed actors. Interviews were confidential and embargoed till the death of the informants. Following the deaths of two of the interviewees, and a third interviewee revealing her participation to the press, the project director published a book and made a television documentary based on their interviews. Subsequently, the police in Northern Ireland requested access to the interviews under the United States-United Kingdom Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT). Initial legal resistance by Boston College and protracted legal resistance by project director and researchers proved unsuccessful. Based on interviews handed over by Boston College to the authorities, one interviewee has been charged with soliciting a murder, and a second with two murders. A film based on videoed interviews with a third interviewee was released after her death. This article considers the implications of the Boston College project for academic research in times of conflict and the ethical, methodological and political implications for future research focused on non-state armed actors.