Engendering Democratic Transition from Conflict: Women's Inclusion in Northern Ireland's Peace Process

Abstract

In 1998 Good Friday Agreement promised an end to protracted conflict in Northern Ireland through establishment of new political structures to ensure eth nic power sharing.' Much has been written about politics of peace process, challenges of demilitarization, and suspension of power-sharing assembly. Less attention has been paid to agreement's explicit commitment that signa tories pursue broad of social inclusion through measures to support com munity development and the advancement of women in public life. Since 2003 assembly elections have reinvigorated radical wings of Unionist and Nationalist camps, through successes of Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Fein, Northern Ireland's new political institutions may be vulnerable. So, too, are broad policies of social inclusion that Good Friday Agreement promulgated. An examination of Northern Ireland offers an opportunity to explore a political context, protracted ethnonational conflict that has been undertheorized in studies of gender and democratic transitions. Feminist scholarship has provided a wealth of knowledge about women's inclusion in transitions from authoritarian and totalitarian regimes, especially in Latin America, eastern Europe and former Soviet Union.2 In particular, it has identified three factors that are crucial to women's ability to spring from civic activism to formal politics: structure of political opportunities and availability of resources; responsiveness of political parties to inclusion agenda; and extent of women's activism in civil society and women's ability to transfer their human and organizational resources to formal politics. Investigation of Northern Ireland can help to clarify whether processes of conflict resolution, like transitions from authoritarian rule, open opportunities for women to take advantage of their positions in civil society, mobilize on behalf of women's interests, and even spring into politics, or whether politics of ethnonationalism undermine gender activism. Hence Northern Ireland may provide insight into a range of cases of pro tracted ethnonational conflict (such as Basque Country, Cyprus, Israel, and Sri Lanka) where limited democratic traditions have combined with acute national con flict and may enrich analyses of gender politics of transitions more broadly. Building on feminist and mainstream scholarship from fields of ethnic con flict, nationalism, and democratization, this article explores gendering of formal