Editorial John Doyle Institute for International Conflict Resolution and Reconstruction, Dublin City University This issue of Irish Studies in International Affairs has two thematic sections, along with a selection of other papers. The first theme focuses on conflict and conflict resolution in the South Asian region, and in particular has an interest in opening up a debate on the potential lessons of the Northern Ireland peace process for that region. As those papers are preceded by a substantial introduction below, I will confine myself here simply to thanking all the contributors for making their papers available for publication in this year’s volume, and in particular I thank the international scholars whose papers appear in that section for travelling to Ireland to present their work. The publication of the papers will, it is hoped, advance the debate on how rigorous comparasion between diverse regions is possible, and how lessons can best be drawn from the Northern Ireland case in a manner that is accessible to international audiences. The second thematic section this year marks the ninetieth anniversary of Ireland’s diplomatic relations with the U.S. The papers are drawn from a seminar hosted by the Embassy of Ireland in Washington, D.C. on 7 October 2014, under the title ‘“A Unique Relationship”: Celebrating 90 Years of Ireland–U.S. Relations—The First Decades of Irish Diplomacy in America’. We are very grateful to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and in particular to Ambassador Anne Anderson who opened the seminar, for their cooperation and their permission to publish the papers in Irish Studies in International Affairs. In the first paper, Bernadette Whelan explores the early days of Irish diplomacy, beginning with Harry Boland’s appointment as the official representative of Dáil Éireann in the U.S. from May 1920 to January 1922. Boland, despite some early success, did not in the end secure American recognition of Ireland’s declaration of independence. In March 1922, following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921, Timothy A. Smiddy replaced Boland as official representative of Dáil Éireann. Whelan goes on to discuss why it then took from 1922 to 1924 for the U.S. to recognise an independent Irish diplomatic representation formally. Michael Kennedy continues this analysis by situating the appointment of Smiddy in the Irish Studies in International Affairs, Vol. 26 (2015), 1–3. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.3318/ISIA.2015.26.20 international context facing Ireland. In a critical year between September 1923 and October 1924, he says, Ireland, then known as the Irish Free State, joined the League of Nations— pointedly as an independent state, attended its first Imperial Conference as a dominion, registered the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 at the League of Nations as an international document and, finally, appointed Smiddy as minister plenipotentiary to the United States as Ireland’s first officially recognised diplomatic representative. Troy Davis complements these papers very nicely with an analysis of the programme of work Smiddy dealt with in his first years in Washington, in particular focusing on his efforts to strengthen the legitimacy of the Free State government. Finally in this section, Ambassador Gerard Keown, writing in a personal capacity, reflects on the first decade of Irish diplomatic activity in the U.S. A wide range of international issues of considerable Irish interest are addressed in the collection of papers that follows that section. Connolly and Doyle draw on the work of U.S. academic William Zartman to place the Northern Ireland peace process within the international literature on conflict mediation. Graham Butler reviews the Interparliamentary Conference (IPC) on the European Union’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) since its establishment in 2012. He argues that the IPC ‘has a long way to go’ before it represents a proper oversight body, but nonetheless, given the weakness of Irish parliamentary oversight of foreign and security policy, it still represents a useful forum. David Hallinan explores the role and impact of the EU as a political actor in Northeast Asia, focusing on the People’s Republic of China, Japan and the Republic of Korea...