The geopolitics, structures of division, and just peace in Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka, and Korea: Comparative reflections for mutual empowerment

Abstract

This chapter adds the case of the Sri Lankan peace process to the comparison between the Irish and Korean peace processes, in order to examine the different ways in which direct violence in protracted conflicts is suspended: political peace agreements (Northern Ireland), military force (Sri Lanka), and military armistice agreements (the Korean Peninsula). In Northern Ireland, direct violence has been contained through consociational political arrangements, but the polarization continues in the different levels of the society. In Sri Lanka, the military dominance, resulting in the massacre of numerous Tamil civilians, did not bring about a structure of just peace. The structural and cultural violence is increasing amid the heavy militarization aimed at suppressing any resurgence of armed conflict. The Korean Armistice Agreement suspended the war with a highly militarized border, the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), but at the same time stopped people-to-people interactions for the past 70 years, causing significant armed rivalries including the development of nuclear weapons. The chapter explores conflict transformation for just peace in the aforementioned three cases with comparative reflections which can mutually empower diverse social and political movements across the borders within each country and beyond.