Ulsterisation

U1L1S1T1E1R1I1S1A1T1I1O1N1

noun

The devolution of security and policing to Northern Irish forces such as the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Scrabble 13

Meanings

nounUlsterisation (uncountable)
  1. uncountableThe devolution of security and policing to Northern Irish forces such as the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

    The first indication of the Ulsterisation policy came in April 1974 when the new Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Merlyn Rees, announced that he intended to restore 'the full responsibility of law and order to the police'.

    1987, John Darby, Northern Ireland: the background to the conflict, Syracuse Univ Pr, →ISBN
  2. broadlyuncountableThe devolution of security and policing to local forces in any area with an active insurgency.
  3. uncountableThe rise of nationalism in a region, and consequent rejection of traditional left/right politics in favour of nationalist/unionist politics.

    Suarez told the Carter administration that 'Ulsterisation' of the Basque problem would present a serious threat to Spain's precarious democratic regime.

    1978, Jane's Information Group, Foreign Report
    1 more example

    India being also at the forefront of the anti-colonial battle in the world, any official recognition of territorial limits for a would-be Pakistan on Indian territory could have led to the Ulsterisation of India.

    2012, Jean-Jacques Chardin, The Déjà-vu and the Authentic: Reprise, Recycling, Recuperating in Anglophone Literature and Culture, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, →ISBN, page 170

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

Ulsterisation. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Ulsterisation

MLA

“Ulsterisation.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Ulsterisation. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Ulsterisation,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Ulsterisation.

Source: Ulsterisation on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.