Northern Ireland Peace Process Research Articles

Culture, Rhetoric, and Reconciliation: The Place of Language in the Northern Irish Conflict and Peace Process (1998-2002)

Alterations in public discourse towards multiculturalism, reconciliation and liberal democracy at the national level in Northern Ireland are evident from 1998 - 2002, but to what end? To what extent did language play a positive role in the Northern Ireland peace process? Recognizing that language does not tell the whole story of the Northern Irish experience of the Troubles or current peace process, the author highlights how language, as a transmitter and constitutor of culture, has played a role as a signifier of potential conflict, peace and progress (or lack thereof). In particular, the author considers several texts including excerpts from speeches given by Noble Prize Winners—the former First Minister David Trimble and former SDLP leader, John Hume; an IRA apology, Bloody Sunday Inquiry and the Belfast Agreement; and several selections from the work of Northern Irish poets Seamus Heaney and Eavan Boland.

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

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

Lessons of the Northern Ireland Peace Process∗

Among the eight lessons that the authors have learned from the peace process in Northern Ireland, they single out three as the most important. They also explain why they are optimistic about the outcome of the IRA's decision to decommission the remaining arms in its arsenal.

Intelligence Wars: Ireland and Afghanistan – The American Experience

This article compares the attitudes and actions of the American political and intelligence communities towards Irish republicanism since the start of the ‘Troubles’ and Islamic fundamentalism in Afghanistan before 9/11. It argues that while romantic notions of both groups' struggles existed in political circles, the intelligence agencies have always retained a strong counter-terrorist strategy, especially after IRA violence escalated in the 1970s and as Islamic fighters turned their jihad against the US after the end of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. A constructivist analysis is offered as the explanation for positive American political engagement in the Northern Ireland peace process in the post-Cold War era and for the rapid degeneration of relations with Islamist groups. Consequentially, the article demonstrates how external influences come to bear on internal conflicts.

Abdicated and Assumed Responsibilities? the Multiple Roles of Political Leadership During the Northern Ireland Peace Process

Challenging some of the existing analyses on the role of political leadership during peace processes, this article argues that it is more important to emphasise the multiplicity of roles that a leader is likely to undertake during a peace process rather than focus on any primary role. However, the article further argues that in the context of Northern Ireland the multiplicity of roles led to a degree of role confusion and role conflict among the elite not least because many of their roles seemed often contradictory or incompatible with one another. It concludes that such confusions, conflict and contradictions have the potential to further cloud our understandings of political leadership during the Northern Ireland peace process rather than crystallise the phenomenon.

Constructive Ambiguity and the Peace Process in Northern Ireland

The Belfast Agreement of 1998 was hailed at the time as a breakthrough in conflict resolution both in Northern Ireland and as a model for international emulation. In fact it has turned out to be neither; rather it has been a sad exercise in surrendering to terrorism and the cause of increased sectarian segregation and enmity. The core of the problem lies in the ‘constructive ambiguity’ at the heart of the Agreement – that is, a form of words that all could sign up to because each party could interpret them differently. This may have enabled everyone to sign up, but also implied they were signing up to different things and therefore were not in agreement. Consequently clever word games and spin by politicians and senior civil servants have created an, in some ways, worse situation, largely because real, substantive issues were ducked. This in turn has its roots in postmodernism, whose baleful influence can be seen throughout not only the Agreement but most government policy over the past 20 odd years.

Motorman's Long Journey: Changing the Strategic Setting in Northern Ireland

Operation Motorman – the ending of the ‘no-go’ areas in Belfast and Londonderry – was one the biggest deployments of British forces since 1945, yet few analysts have grasped its enduring significance. This article argues that Motorman helped break the vicious circle of violence and atrocity that characterised the most violent years of the early troubles. In hindsight we can see that the aftermath of the operation irrevocably altered the strategic setting in Northern Ireland that, in time, enabled constitutional unionism and nationalism to slowly become more tractable towards each other. While Motorman can in no sense be regarded as the proximate cause of the current Northern Ireland peace process, it can be argued that in removing the most important factor that made the IRA a potent threat, Motorman shattered the IRA's military bargaining strategy, the long-term effect of which was eventually to propel the republican movement down a path that would ultimately lead it to question the value of its armed struggle.

Editor's Introduction: Academic and Policy Perspectives on the 'War on Terrorism'

Editor'sintroduction Academic and Policy Perspectives on the 'War on Terrorism' JohnDoyle Centre for InternationalStudies,School of Lawand Government, DublinCity University This issue of IrishStudies in internationalAffairsis dominatedby contributionsto the debate on the US 'Waron Terrorism'post-11 September2001. It drawsfrom paperspresentedat last year'sannualconferenceof the RIA'sNationalCommittee forthe Studyof International Affairsandfromsomeotherssubmitteddirectlyto the journal,andthe articles collectively representa good cross sectionof the ongoing international debate.Academicshaveaparticular roletoplayinthiscontext.Without makingany claim thatacademicshavea uniquelyobjectiveperspectiveto bringto events,it canbe arguedthatgood academicwritingcanplayanimportantpartinthe public debates around the appropriatepolicy responses to global conflict and terrorism.In sucha highly polemicaland often emotionaldebateit can be difficult for actors on all sides to be self-criticalor to acknowledgefailures, and yet it is essential thatthepublic discoursecontainssuchcontributions fromboth supporters andopponentsof the position led by the US andBritishgovernments. MrGijsdeVries,thennewly appointedEU counter-terrorism coordinator, opened the 2004 conferencein Dublin. Counter-terrorism is an areawhereacademicwork is only just emerging.Manycommentatorshave suggestedthatthe EU, becauseof its own historyandinstitutionalmake-up,has a morecomplexview of thecausesof terrorismandof the requiredpolicy responsesthanthe currentBush administration in the US. Thereare certainlysigns thatthis is so in a comparisonof the 2002 US nationalsecuritystrategyandthe2003 EU securitystrategy.However,it is less clear if any differencesin approachhaveemergedin practice. The contributionsof David HastingsDunn andKarinFierkeset out contrasting analysesof theglobaldebates.Dunnfocuses on ananalysisof changingUS aimsand strategyin the period since 2001. Fierke,drawingon the literaturewithin critical securitystudies,arguesthatwe needto examinetheassumptionson uponwhichthe Waron Terrorism is builtandtheextentto whichtheseassumptionsarecontributing tothe furtherconstructionof conflictandthe terrorist threatrather thanameliorating theproblem.FrancescoCavatorta looksattheperspectivesof radicalIslamicgroups, a point of view frequently ignoredor simply caricaturedin the public debate on terrorism;while Luis Morenolooks atthe particular case of theSpanishreactionto the Madridbombings of March 2004 and analyses the relationshipbetween the bombings andthe immediatelyfollowing change of governmentin Spain.Richard IrishStudiesinInternational Affairs, Vol.16(2005),1-2. 2 IrishStudiesin InternationalAffairs AldrichandEunanO Halpinbothexamine the issue of intelligenceand its role in makingthe case for wara crucialissue in the debatein Britain,butthey also raise widerissuesabouttheroleof intelligenceservices in foreignpolicy makingandthe damageto the credibilityof intelligenceanalysis if it is perceivedby the publicto be manipulatedfor shorttermpolitical advantage.Rory Miller looks at the Irish debateson the war and its relationshipto Irish neutrality,while RobertBarnidge examines the legal obligations of states with regardto non-state actors such as international terroristorganisations.Delma Campbell,finally in this section, looks at the place of internationaleducationexchanges in the Waron Terrorism-as an instrumentof US soft powerbutalso as a casualty of tightervisa restrictionsfor studentsandacademics. ApartfromtheWaron Terrorism, this issue also includesanhistoricalreviewof theIrishlegationinPer6n'sArgentina(1948-55) fromPaulHand;ananalysisof EU votingin theUN GeneralAssemblyfromNick Rees andHelenYoung;a discussion by CatherineLynch of the impact of factionalism within political partiesas an explanationforbothprogressandstallingin the NorthernIrelandpeace process;an explorationby MartynFramptonof the evolution of SinnF6in's policy towardthe EuropeanUnion, which culminatedin the election of two MEPs in 2004, andour annualreviewsof Irishforeignpolicy andIrishdevelopmentaidby Nick Rees and HelenO'Neill, respectively. Finally,all suggestionsandarticlesforpublicationwill be warmlywelcomedby theeditor. ...

The Impact of Television News on the Northern Ireland Peace Negotiations

This article is an analysis of the influences and pressures that television news has brought to bear on the Northern Ireland peace process. Discussed from the viewpoints and perspectives of senior journalists who have covered the peace process, it describes a complex range of uses by the participants and highlights problems which reporting has brought to bear on communications and dialogue about peace. Using studies about the relationship between news and foreign policy as a basis for thinking about the role of television in political diplomacy, the article underlines the importance of television news as part of that process, and presents television reporting, through its varying communicative influences, as itself a key participant in the developments and exchanges which have come to shape peace politics in Northern Ireland.

Book Review: The People's Peace Process in Northern Ireland

Book Review: The People's Peace Process in Northern Ireland

Anglo–Irish Relations and the Northern Ireland Peace Process: From Exclusion to Inclusion

In the early 1990s the British and Irish governments moved away from the policy of attempting to marginalise the IRA and Sinn Féin to enticing republicanism into mainstream politics. This article examines why the two governments made this apparent shift in policy. The British and Irish governments were persuaded to change their policy on Northern Ireland due to a variety of factors, all of which need to be examined if the origins of the peace process are to be understood. The article questions existing explanations that portray the origins of the peace process and the Downing Street Declaration as simply a victory for Irish nationalism without taking account of the concessions secured by the British government from the Irish during the protracted negotiations.

Constructing loyalism: politics, communications and peace in Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland peace process has provided the space for the emergence of an articulate loyalist politics which has had implications for the traditionally obstructive and negative representations of unionist discourse. During talk and negotiations which led to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, leaders of the Progressive Unionist Party and the Ulster Democratic Party (both political wings of loyalist paramilitary groupings) voiced positions which assisted the possibilities for building constitutional change based along more moderate lines than those associated with dominant unionism. However, have the news media been receptive to such articulations and, if not, what problems have they created for the communication of loyalist positions? By considering such questions, this article explores the development of loyalism and loyalist communications in the early years of peace in Northern Ireland.

Constant crisis/permanent process: Diminished agency and weak structures in the Northern Ireland peace process

(2003). Constant crisis/permanent process: Diminished agency and weak structures in the Northern Ireland peace process. Global Review of Ethnopolitics: Vol. 3, Northern Ireland, pp. 22-37.

Violence and Non-Violence in Conflict Resolution: Some Theological Reflections

Christian thought on the resolution of conflicts rests on a strong predisposition against violence and a determination to discourage outbreaks of violence, limit the means used, and bring the conflict to as speedy an end as possible. Less attention has been given to the psychological and social roots of violence, the moments of transition from violence to diplomacy and reconciliation, and alternative ways of conflict resolution. These three areas are explored with special reference to the use of sanctions, the WCC’s Programme to Overcome Violence, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, Gandhian Satyagraha, and the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Such measures should be judged against the same criteria as are used in relation to violence and war.

FIANNA FÁIL AND SINN FÉIN: THE 1988 TALKS REAPPRAISED

This article will assess conflicting accounts of Charles Haughey's political record in relation to Northern Ireland. It is argued that his approach cannot be understood without reference to the changing influences affecting his position. While the importance of competition between Haughey and Garret FitzGerald and the factions within Fianna Fáil have been acknowledged, the emergence of Sinn Féin in the early 1980s as an influencing factor has been overlooked. The article will outline the extent to which Sinn Féin conditioned the language used by Fianna Fáil throughout the 1980s and will analyse, in particular, the importance for Fianna Fáil of the 1988 talks with Sinn Féin. The article will also illustrate the significance of these talks for the Northern Ireland peace process itself and for the principles of consent and self‐determination.

Public opinion and the peace process in Northern Ireland: A comment*

Public opinion and the peace process in Northern Ireland: A comment*

Pushing for Peace

Although much has been written about the role of the news media within conflict situations, far less is known about the part played by reporting during a period of developing peace. This article approaches this question by looking at how the Irish government dealt with television news during the initial phases of the Northern Ireland peace process. In drawing from interviews carried out with key government representatives, it presents a picture of diverse strategies applied by the Irish in their efforts to push for peace and indicates how different communicative priorities came into play to meet varying problems and opportunities afforded by television news coverage.

Devolution and the state of the Northern Ireland peace process

Devolution and the state of the Northern Ireland peace process

Priests and Peace : the Role of the Redemptorist Order in the Northern Ireland Peace Process

The Catholic Church in Ireland - and the hierarchy in particular - strongly condemned the military campaign of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. However, within the Church, there was also a parallel strategy of engagement with republican leaders. This latter strategy was primarily pursued through the Redemptorist Order in Belfast where there existed a belief that the Catholic Church had a responsibility wider than just condemnation of the Republican Movement. This article examines the role of the Redemptorist Order based on interviews with Fr Alex Reid, the main architect of its strategy, and through access to private documents prepared as the Irish government first became involved in the peace process in the late 1980s. The article concludes that the Redemptorists made a significant political contribution to establishing and developing the peace process in Northern Ireland.

Public Attitudes toward Partisan and Neutral Symbols in Post-Agreement Northern Ireland

Using original data from the Northern Ireland Life and Times survey, this article assesses public attitudes toward key issues of symbolism intimately connected with the Northern Ireland conflict and peace process. It uses public attitudes toward the symbolic expressions of Northern Ireland's politico-religious blocs as indicators of the extent of intercommunity tolerance in the delicate post-Belfast Agreement period. Survey questions on attitudes toward flags, including the idea of a new flag for Northern Ireland; loyalist and republican murals; and memorials to the dead of the conflict, including the idea of a memorial for all of the victims of the conflict, reveal that partisan attitudes toward communal symbols of identity and commemoration persist, despite macro-level political changes heralded by the 1998 peace accord. It is argued that the consociational design of the Belfast Agreement facilitates the perpetuation of the single-identity politics of Irish nationalism and Ulster unionism. In this context, public attachment to partisan symbols remains strong.