Intervening in Northern Ireland: Critically re‐thinking representations of the conflict

Abstract

This article introduces the main themes that underpin this special issue, namely representations of the conflict in Northern Ireland. Overall a primary aim of this collection is to problematize how the conflict has conventionally been represented, particularly through scholarly work. A central reason for doing this is the suspicion that conventional analyses of the conflict, especially in the context of the persistent search for solutions, may be partly constitutive of the very problems that analysts seek to resolve. Deploying contemporary political theory, the article discusses the vexed relationship between the production of scholarly work and the impact of this work on matters of social and political significance. It then goes on to illustrate one way in which conventional analysis works to mask the functions of a crucial site of political antagonism – gender. This is demonstrated through the examination of a scholarly text and through an analysis of the electoral failure of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition.