Mitchell Institute Director Professor Richard English recently delivered two Lectures in France on the subject of 'The Irish Republican Army and the Irish Border'. Taking an historical approach, he studied the IRA's long and violent opposition to the establishment and sustenance of partition in Ireland, examining case studies of activism throughout the IRA's lengthy past.  The Lectures, delivered at the University of Tours and the University of Orleans in October, assessed the complex roots and effects of IRA opposition to the border. They also stressed the need for an empathetic and historical approach to the polarized attitudes that exist regarding  partition and the violence which preceded and followed it.  The Lectures were supported by the French Society for Irish Studies and by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, and hosted by academics at the respective Universities.