Youth Violence as Accidental Spoiling?: Civil Society Perceptions of the Role of Sectarian Youth Violence and the Effect of the Peace Dividend in Northern Ireland

Abstract

Northern Ireland's current period of relative peace and political stability has been varyingly attributed to large amounts of international economic development assistance and the funding of grassroots peacebuilding work. Yet the post-accord peace is punctuated by seemingly sporadic and isolated acts of violence perpetrated by young people. Using the concept of accidental spoiling, we analyze the perceptions of 120 community group leaders and international funding program administrators pertaining to the causes and effects of persistent sectarian violence among Northern Irish youth and the effect of that violence on the long-term sustainability of peace in Northern Ireland. The views shared by this cross-section of civil society groups suggest that, although economic development assistance has provided opportunities to decrease the inequalities that contributed to the ethnopolitical conflict, low self-esteem, and low self-image, disrupted communities continue to fuel youth interest in violence, thereby raising the potential to harm the peace process. The article concludes by proposing that deeper social reorganizing objectives should be aimed for if Northern Ireland is really to achieve conflict transformation.