Northern Ireland after the Good Friday Agreement: On the Way to Peace or Conflict Perpetuated?

Northern Ireland after the Good Friday Agreement: On the Way to Peace or Conflict Perpetuated? PDF Author: Patrick Wagner
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638284913
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 33

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Book Description
Essay from the year 2004 in the subject Politics - Region: Western Europe, grade: 2+ (B), University of Kent (Brussels School of International Studies), language: English, abstract: Six years after the Good Friday Agreement was signed and after a promising, although troubled start of the institutional framework it has put in place, Northern Ireland is, following the suspension of devolution on 14 October 2002, yet again under direct rule from Westminster. Centuries of conflict, decades of violent troubles and diametrically opposed demands of the groups involved make the Northern Ireland question to one of the most difficult conflicts of our time. Nevertheless, there was genuine optimism both among the parties involved and the international community that the Agreement would succeed and resolve the conflict. However, in the political reality of Northern Ireland, the Agreement soon reached its limits, and people realised that it takes more than an assembly and a power-sharing executive to overcome Ulster’s deep-rooted sectarian divisions. Internal disagreement in the unionist and nationalist camps over the direction the Agreement is likely to take them and the still unresolved question of IRA weapons decommissioning leave the future of the Agreement in serious doubt. The Agreement has been widely acknowledged as being consociational and consistent with the four principles of power-sharing identified by Lijphart. This paper will thus also discuss the theoretical foundation of the Agreement. Here, it will particularly focus on the role of the voting system (Single Transferable Vote) employed for the Assembly elections, which is unusual for consociational models. This paper will conclude that the Agreement is undeniably a major breakthrough. Even if the Agreement itself does not solve the conflict, by creating a prolonged period of peace in which political dialogue can take place, it could be a vital step towards a future settlement. But is the current situation in Northern Ireland really a transitional period likely to lead to a solution of the conflict in the future or is it what Trimble calls the ‘continuation of war by other means’? The Agreement was certainly not an overall failure as it has managed to bring parties together in political institutions which have refused to sit together in the same room for decades. But its limitations must also be clear: the war might be over but the conflict is far from ended. Since the Agreement has failed to address the underlying issues of the conflict and merely regulates violence, it cannot be regarded as a permanent and sustainable solution.

Northern Ireland after the Good Friday Agreement: On the Way to Peace or Conflict Perpetuated?

Northern Ireland after the Good Friday Agreement: On the Way to Peace or Conflict Perpetuated? PDF Author: Patrick Wagner
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
ISBN: 3638284913
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 33

Get Book Here

Book Description
Essay from the year 2004 in the subject Politics - Region: Western Europe, grade: 2+ (B), University of Kent (Brussels School of International Studies), language: English, abstract: Six years after the Good Friday Agreement was signed and after a promising, although troubled start of the institutional framework it has put in place, Northern Ireland is, following the suspension of devolution on 14 October 2002, yet again under direct rule from Westminster. Centuries of conflict, decades of violent troubles and diametrically opposed demands of the groups involved make the Northern Ireland question to one of the most difficult conflicts of our time. Nevertheless, there was genuine optimism both among the parties involved and the international community that the Agreement would succeed and resolve the conflict. However, in the political reality of Northern Ireland, the Agreement soon reached its limits, and people realised that it takes more than an assembly and a power-sharing executive to overcome Ulster’s deep-rooted sectarian divisions. Internal disagreement in the unionist and nationalist camps over the direction the Agreement is likely to take them and the still unresolved question of IRA weapons decommissioning leave the future of the Agreement in serious doubt. The Agreement has been widely acknowledged as being consociational and consistent with the four principles of power-sharing identified by Lijphart. This paper will thus also discuss the theoretical foundation of the Agreement. Here, it will particularly focus on the role of the voting system (Single Transferable Vote) employed for the Assembly elections, which is unusual for consociational models. This paper will conclude that the Agreement is undeniably a major breakthrough. Even if the Agreement itself does not solve the conflict, by creating a prolonged period of peace in which political dialogue can take place, it could be a vital step towards a future settlement. But is the current situation in Northern Ireland really a transitional period likely to lead to a solution of the conflict in the future or is it what Trimble calls the ‘continuation of war by other means’? The Agreement was certainly not an overall failure as it has managed to bring parties together in political institutions which have refused to sit together in the same room for decades. But its limitations must also be clear: the war might be over but the conflict is far from ended. Since the Agreement has failed to address the underlying issues of the conflict and merely regulates violence, it cannot be regarded as a permanent and sustainable solution.

Northern Ireland After The Good Friday Agreement

Northern Ireland After The Good Friday Agreement PDF Author: Mike Morrissey
Publisher: Pluto Press
ISBN: 9780745316741
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
The difficulties that have dogged the Northern Ireland peace process and the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement are rarely out of the headlines. This book gives a uniquely up-to-date insight into one of the issues at stake for the people of Northern Ireland – the long-term impact of political violence on the civil population.The result of extensive research among local communities, and drawing on survey and interview evidence, Northern Ireland After the Good Friday Agreement sets this issue within the context of past conflict and the continuing sectarian violence of the present. In particular it presents the views of ordinary people about their personal experiences of political violence and the impact it has had upon their lives. Moreover, it shows how the Troubles have affected the young people of the region, and looks at the problems facing a society coming out of a protracted period of low-intensity conflict.

Peace At Last?

Peace At Last? PDF Author: Jörg Neuheiser
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1800734816
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Spanning more than thirty years, and costing over 3000 lives, the conflict in Northern Ireland has been one of the most protracted ethnic conflicts in Western Europe. After several failed attempts to resolve the fundamental differences over national belonging between the two communities in Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 seemed to offer the long awaited chance of sustainable peace and reconciliation. By looking at the various dimensions and dynamics of post conflict peace-building in the political system, the economy, and society of this deeply divided society, the contributors to this volume offer a comprehensive analysis of Northern Irish politics and society in the wake of the Good Friday Agreement and conclude that this is probably the best chance for a stable and long-term peace that Northern Ireland has had but that the difficulties that still lie ahead must not be underestimated.

"Good Friday Agreement". Perspectives on the Northern Irish Peace Process

Author: Enrico Schlickeisen
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783668893788
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 20

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Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2016 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: Peace and Conflict Studies, Security, grade: 2,3, University of Rostock, language: English, abstract: The Troubles in Northern Ireland were one of the main concerns for both British and Irish politics ever since the late 1960s. However, the roots of the conflict reach back centuries and have been the cause for immense bloodshed and more than 3,200 casualties.These earlier stages of the conflict as well as its course in general are to be neglected in this paper, whereas the emphasis is to be on the Good Friday Agreement or Belfast Agreement of 1998 as the political marking line between war and peace, as well as the developments up to the present. Although the end of violence as primary goal of the Agreement was largely achieved in most parts of Northern Ireland, there are still developments that run contrary to a notion of peace. These developments will subsequently be analyzed to identify weaknesses of the Good Friday Agreement and make statements about the success of the peace process possible and ultimately make assumptions about the hindrances of said peace process to this day. The indicator used to make said assumptions will be Wolff's post-agreement reconstruction model which was already used to analyze the progress of the peace process in 2002, which lead to a very cautious prognosis for the coming years. This paper's task is therefore to apply the post-agreement reconstruction model to today's situation to make a statement about the success of the Good Friday Agreement more than 18 years after it was signed. Due to the shortness of this paper, an emphasis will be laid on social, psychological and security indicators for the success of post-agreement reconstruction. Furthermore, the particular contents of the Belfast Agreement in their entirety are not to be listed here. However, for an analysis of the current situation in Northern Ireland it is necessary to consider

A Farewell to Arms?

A Farewell to Arms? PDF Author: Michael Cox
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 9780719071157
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 580

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Book Description
Neither naively optimistic nor hopelessley pessimistic, this collection of writings by experts on the history of the troubles in Northern Ireland paints a realistic picture of the peace processes that have dotted the province's landscape.

Inside Accounts, Volume II

Inside Accounts, Volume II PDF Author: Graham Spencer
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781526149176
Category : Great Britain
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Volume two of the most authoritative and revealing account yet of how the Irish Government managed the Northern Ireland peace process and helped broker a political settlement to end the conflict there. Based on nine extended interviews with key officials and political leaders including Bertie Ahern, this book provides a compelling picture of how the peace process was created and how it came to be successful. Covering areas such as informal negotiation, text and context, strategy, working with British and American Governments, and offering perceptions of other players involved in the dialogue and negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 and the power-sharing arrangements that followed, this dramatic account will become a major source for academics and interested readers alike for years to come. Volume One deals with the Irish Government and Sunningdale (1973) and the Anglo-Irish Agreement (1985) and Volume Two on the Good Friday Agreement (1998) and beyond.

The Legacy of the Good Friday Agreement

The Legacy of the Good Friday Agreement PDF Author: Charles I. Armstrong
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319912321
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
This book provides a multidisciplinary collection of essays that seek to explore the deeply problematic legacy of post-Agreement Northern Ireland. Thus, the authors of this book look at a number of issues that continue to stymie the development of a robust and sustainable peacebuilding project, including segregation, contested parades and flags, ethnic party mobilization, and memorialization. Towards addressing these contemporary issues, authors are drawn from a range of disciplines, including politics, history, literature, drama, cultural studies, sociology, and social psychology.

The Northern Ireland peace process

The Northern Ireland peace process PDF Author: Eamonn O'Kane
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526116642
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
This book offers a re-evaluation of the emergence, development and outcome of the peace process in Northern Ireland. Drawing on interviews with many of the key participants of the peace process, newly released archival material and the existing scholarship on the conflict, it explains the decisions that shaped the peace process in their proper context. O'Kane argues that although the outcome of the process can be seen as a success, it is not the outcome that was originally expected or intended by most of its participants. By tracing the process and highlighting the pragmatic decisions of the parties that shaped it the work explains how Northern Ireland moved from conflict to peace. The book concludes by examining what the implications of Brexit are for Northern Ireland’s hard-won peace and political stability.

From Conflict to Peace. Rehabilitation Process in the Phase of Transforming Conflict - The Case of Northern Ireland

From Conflict to Peace. Rehabilitation Process in the Phase of Transforming Conflict - The Case of Northern Ireland PDF Author: Yusuf Cinar
Publisher: Anchor Academic Publishing
ISBN: 3960677189
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
The problem of Northern Ireland is a struggle for sharing power between the Catholics and the Protestants. The structural and basic reasons of the problem have played a very important role in the evolution of it towards civil war. The most important basic reason underlying it is mutual "distrust" between parties in Northern Ireland. On this regard, some necessary steps are to be taken for the stability of the peaceful environment established after the conflict. The normalization of the society and the making of the relations between groups transparent, constitute the "rehabilitation" process itself. Rehabilitation process ensures the continuation of confidence building in schools, helps with the matter of winning future generations, and also plays an important role in ensuring confidence building in institutions. In sum the subject of this study is addressing the contributions of the rehabilitation as the protection of peace, to the social reconciliation process as formed by the societies living in Northern Ireland; and its continuation by discussing the rehabilitation process with reference to the example of Northern Ireland in the phase of transforming conflict. One of the main research questions of this study is to present the contribution of the rehabilitation process on peace within the context of conflict administration. In the first part of this book, the stage of rehabilitation in the development process of conflict administration is discussed. In the second part of this book, the structural reasons of conflict will be approached and Belfast Agreement, which can be described as a reconciliation document of parties, will be analysed. The third part is focused on how the results of the application of rehabilitation activities that are foreseen in the in the process of transforming the problem of Northern Ireland are obtained.

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland PDF Author: Kristin Archick
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781437961492
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 17

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Book Description
Since 1969, over 3,500 people have died as a result of political violence in Northern Ireland, which is a part of the United Kingdom (UK). The conflict, which has its origins in the 1921 division of Ireland, has reflected a struggle between different national, cultural, and religious identities. The Protestant majority (53%) in Northern Ireland defines itself as British and largely supports continued incorporation in the UK (unionists). The Catholic minority (44%) considers itself Irish, and many Catholics desire a united Ireland (nationalists). For years, the British and Irish governments sought to facilitate a political settlement. After many ups and downs, the two governments and the Northern Ireland political parties participating in the peace talks announced an agreement on April 10, 1998. The resulting Good Friday Agreement (also known as the Belfast Agreement) called for devolved government the transfer of power from London to Belfast with a Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive Committee in which unionist and nationalist parties would share power. The agreement also contained provisions on decommissioning (disarmament), policing, human rights, UK security normalization (demilitarization), and the status of prisoners. Contents of this report: Background; Devolved Government and Recurrent Crises; Implementing Police Reforms; U.S. Policy: International Fund for Ireland; Recent Legislation. Map. This is a print on demand report.