There is a dynamic at work in Northern Ireland that transcends the traditional view of the Northern Ireland conflict. Although "British colonialism" has been viewed as the root of the violence, such an explanation has lost any real operational value. The changing industrial circumstances of the region are more significant in understanding factors in the unrest. The violent behavior that has occurred in Northern Ireland is the logical consequence in an area plagued by economic decay and political gerrymandering. The result is that representatives of the most vulnerable segments of the Catholic and Protestant communities fight to protect their ever more vulnerable positions in a world of limited options and resources. Industrial decline has required the use of political mechanisms to reinforce the distribution of rights, resources, privileges, and obligations. With their greater strength, Protestants, who were situated to control the process, sought to dominate limited economic resource distribution. Forced to strike back, those elements of the Catholic community most affected, the dispossessed working class, returned to the only methods and symbology they know, those of "liberation" from Britain. As in Northern Ireland, urban violence in the United States is strongly influenced by economics and the distribution of resources. In a finite economic structure, society is increasingly perceived as a zero-sum game; hence demands by one community for a more equitable distribution of rights, resources, privileges, and obligations are viewed as a threat to the slice already gained by another community. Where access to the political process has already been achieved, the system is used to further distribute benefits. Where access has been denied or ignored there is no place for the drama to play itself out except in the streets, where violence is the normal, daily method of discourse. This paper examines how this dynamic is played out in four U.S. urban centers where violence is prevalent: New York City, Los Angeles, greater Chicago, and greater Washington. 10 notes