Suchergebnisse

This book provides the first detailed examination of the role played by former loyalist and republican prisoners in grass roots conflict transformation work in the Northern Ireland peace process. It challenges the assumed passivity of former prisoners and ex-combatants. Instead, it suggests that such individuals and the groups which they formed have been key agents of conflict transformation. They have provided leadership in challenging cultures of violence, developed practical methods of resolving inter-communal conflict and found ways for communities to explore their troubled past. In analysing this, the authors challenge the sterile demonisation of former prisoners and the processes that maintain their exclusion from normal civic and social life. The book is a constructive reminder of the need for full participation of both former combatants and victims in post-conflict transformation. It also lays out a new agenda for reconciliation which suggests that conflict transformation can and should begin 'from the extremes'. The book will be of interest to students of criminology, peace and conflict studies, law and politics, geography and sociology as well as those with a particular interest in the Northern Ireland conflict

And an issue with considerable power to delay the implementation of the Agreement is the decommissioning of arms of the paramilitaries. While the Agreement set up an Independent Commission to address this issue, the timing of decommissioning, and its sequence in relation to the setting up of the Assembly has proved to be difficult to negotiate with all parties. What has made this difficulty even more contentious is the fact that the release of political prisoners, which was agreed in the political settlement, has caused considerable anger among many in the community but perhaps particularly to many in the unionist community who see murderers and other freed with what is perceived to be very little retribution for their crimes. It is not unexpected that the post-violence process has been so contentious or so protracted. Those who work in conflict settlement processes are aware that such processes rarely proceed either evenly or quickly, and indeed many continue through on going and often parallel violence. On the positive side, however, much work has already been undertaken on the development of pluralist approaches to many of the contentious issues of equality and diversity which have been so divisive in Nothern Ireland. In addition, although intra, and sometimes inter community beatings and shootings continue to mark the peace, the paramilitary campaigns, except for those of the various minor splinter groups that have arisen or have been revitalised since the agreement, have ceased. An increasing number of ex- paramilitaries are choosing to abandon violence and to join in the political, or communin, development process. And finally, over two years the Belfast agreement was signed, both the local political Assembly and the North South bodies are finally in place, and the politicians have begun to collectively address a programme for governance. + It is a well established fact to those of us working in conflict that in fact conflicts do not end - they just change. Undoubtedly significant challenges remain to be addressed. Among these can be numbered the possible further development of some of the splinter groups who have split from the main paramilitary movements, and the need for the existing Assembly parties to constructively and collectively deal with this challenge. Despite some progress, the issue of contentious parades still remain unresolved. There is the continuing difficulty of the possible destabilisation of the Assembly through the growth of more 'anti-agreement' representatives who could coalesce around such issues as the failure to agree to a process of decommissioning. These are generally more fundamentalist unionists who voted against the Belfast Agreement. Those Unionists who voted for the Agreement are only in a slim majority and this is likely to prove a continuing difficulty. Another issue that has the potential to destabilise political development is the difficulties in re-developing a police service that is more acceptable to nationalists and unionists alike. + Effectively, the war is ended. For many, committee papers have been substituted for guns. Major problems still remain. It does, however, at last appear that the hard work and the many committed approaches to both dialogue and constitutional solutions may soon yielded enough stability to take Northern Ireland to a future where politics and not violence will primarily prevail. (SOI : MO: 36-38)

With respect to its troubled past Northern Ireland has constantly been a field of interest, academic research and discourse. Certain periods in this past, like for example the "Troubles" (a time of violent struggle that began in 1969/70), sooner or later tend to create a particular approach towards language usage. As research has already been carried out on the "Troubles" and its language usage the question now remains in how far the application of lexical items would be changing through the impact of the so called peace process. Examining the language use surrounding this process a wide range of phenomena in the field of politics and social affairs but also in society could be analysed and discussed, assuming that change for some reason developed here. Investigating such circumstances further this empirical interdisciplinary study in the shape of a corpus analysis addresses the presumed language change in Northern Ireland by employing news texts (Belfast Telegraph, BBC Northern Ireland and An Phoblacht) of the period from 1995 to 2009 (i.e. before and after the Good Friday Agreement a negotiated settlement between Catholics and Protestants in 1998) for the analysis to attempt to establish a link between changing semantic and lexical units, and to some extend to even find a relation to alleged gradual social change. The evaluation is based on a qualitative and quantitative analysis of thematically pre-selected keywords in the areas of politics, social affairs, and society. Generally it could therefore be concluded that change – though marginal in numbers – appears perceivable. Despite a detailed examination and evaluation (qualitative and quantitative) it needs to be pointed out, however, that the findings of correlating social and linguistic variables could in the end only imply a kind of relation – contrary to the expectations in the beginning. Perhaps, in some cases, gradual change could be illustrated like for example with the name change of the police (RUC to PSNI) or changed social terminology. Nevertheless this study created an important contribution of research on post-"Troubles" Northern Ireland as it brings this statelet back into focus on the one hand and in addition prompts questions on the challenges of future language usage in societies that experienced violent conflict on the other. Corpus and Appendix on CD-Rom for printed copy available at University Library Chemnitz and German National Library

This article explores the complex nature and role of the reform of state institutions in facilitating and underpinning peace building and post-conflict transformation. Using the case study of police reform in Northern Ireland post the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, it considers the potential for institutional reform to legitimate state structures historically rejected as partisan or corrupt. The historica absence of legitimacy of policing in Northern Ireland created a context where police reform became a central plank-both real and symbolic-in the constitutional redesign of the state of Northern Ireland itself. the responses of the two dominant communities of Northern Ireland to the role of the police embodied the core constitutional questions which had historically divided the parties in the conflict. This article analyses the Patten Commission model of policing reform and its implementation process, considering, in particular, the implementation of three core strands of reform-representation, human rights and accountability-and the contribution each has made towards the institutional legitimation of the police in Northern Ireland and the post-conflict transformation process more generally. (Ethnopolitics)

This article examines the debate on ways of dealing with the past in Northern Ireland from the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 to the present. The British government's recent creation of a consultative group, due to report in June 2008, has re-focused attention on whether or not, and in what form, Northern Ireland might adopt past-focused mechanisms as part of its post-conflict transition process. Against the backdrop of wider international and theoretical perspectives, the article examines the context and character of some of the issues this process is likely to face, particularly around the issue of collusion, and explore public attitudes towards the possible creation of a Truth Commission for Northern Ireland. (Ethnopolitics)

Political cleavages are often understood as deriving from either deep-rooted social divisions or institutional incentives. Contemporary Northern Ireland provides a test of the mutability of apparently entrenched cleavages to institutional change. Research undertaken before the ceasefire in the 1990s found noticeable asymmetries in the patterns of cleavage within the unionist and nationalist blocs. Within the unionist bloc, economic 'left-right' issues formed the main ideological division between the two major unionist parties. This contrasted with an ethno-national source of ideological division between the two nationalist parties. However, the emergence of a consociational form of government structure since then has demonstrated the ability of institutional incentives to reform some aspects of party competition swiftly. As evidence of this, we show that between 1989 and 2004 there was little change in the sources of support for Sinn Féin relative to the SDLP, but the influence of left-right ideology within the unionist bloc was negated as the influence of ethno-nationalism dramatically increased. (British Journal of Political Science / FUB)

This article examines the role of the British government in talks with republicans and loyalists during the early stages of the Northern Ireland peace process. Since the priority of both the British and Irish governments was to draw paramilitary groups away from violence towards the political process, it was necessary to engage representatives of those groups in dialogue and demonstrate that political goals were more likely to be achieved through debate than violence. Drawing from interviews with key British government figures involved in talks at that time, this study identifies how the British sought to draw republicans and loyalists into the political process and how dialogue was used to assist the development of political representation within paramilitarism. (The British Journal of Politics and International Relations / FUB)

Peace negotiations have traditionally aimed at reaching a negotiated settlement between political representatives in conflict settings. However, these settlements have seldom been rejected in referendums. This article uncovers whether the way peace negotiations are conducted influences peace settlement referendum outcomes in order to determine if and how they can better foster public support for peace settlements. It analyses and compares if and how specific characteristics of the Annan Plan and the Good Friday Agreement negotiations influenced the rejection of the former in 2004, and the acceptance of the latter in 1998, in their respective referendums in Cyprus and Northern Ireland. Through the qualitative analysis of elite interviews and documental data, it demonstrates that political inclusivity, civil society engagement and the public exposure of the negotiations shaped the opposing outcomes of the two cases, as well as differences in the support given by the local communities. It argues that peace settlement referendums require less secretive and more inclusive negotiation processes, which can better foster political support and civic mobilisation, and inform and engage the wider communities at earlier stages of the peace process.