Suchergebnisse

Although attention on peace in Northern Ireland often focuses on negotiations, power sharing and(dis)agreements at a political level, some of the most difficult and critical processes of building peace occurs at a societal and interpersonal level through sustained work to build and maintain relationships between individuals and communities. This work, which is often variably labelled peacebuilding, reconciliation, and/or community relations work, is dispersed, varied and much of it is undertaken within the community and voluntary sector. It comprises different methods and activities, engages different demographics, and is orientated towards a range of specific objectives, however the core of this work lies in bringing people together, whether within social groups or across communal divides, to address the direct and/or indirect legacies of conflict and to build relationships and transform conditions to develop a stable, sustainable peace. This report outlines the findings of a study examining how organisations engaged in peacebuilding work responded and adapted to the immediate impacts of the Coronavirus pandemic on their ability to 'bring people together'. The study also examined the structures and constraints which impacted their responses, and participants' early reflections on the impacts of this period on peacebuilding and community relations in the shorter and longer term

Peacebuilding frameworks reflect an imperative to acknowledge the experiences of victims in an effort to remedy their harm and consolidate peace. Most social groups involved in conflict, however, claim to be the 'real' victims, often while refuting the victimhood of their adversaries. This exclusive attitude toward victims resonates with group identification and complicates the task of addressing victims' needs. This article examines the implications of such exclusive, intergroup perceptions of victims on the prospect of peacebuilding, drawing upon empirical evidence from Northern Ireland. Three overlapping implications emerge, including difficulty identifying victims and their needs, proliferation of a competitive and politicised 'victim culture' and the so-called 'hierarchy of victims'. Exclusive, intergroup perceptions demonstrated in these three implications impede peacebuilding primarily by preventing the development of new, co-operative relationships between groups and reinforcing divisive group identities.

This book explores how the construction and contestation of victims in societies emerging from conflict impact processes of peacebuilding. It locates its inquiry in Northern Ireland where highly politicized, unresolved narratives of violence and a so-called 'hierarchy of victims' illuminate inherent paradoxes of victimhood in intergroup conflict. The author critiques how mechanisms designed to address the legacy of conflict often reify exclusive 'victim' and 'perpetrator' identities and obscure complex harm. Adopting an interdisciplinary lens, the book examines how the image of the ideal victim interacts with intergroup processes in a polarizing and intractable victim-perpetrator paradigm. The analysis of these issues in Northern Ireland suggests that exclusive policies and mechanisms reinforce rather than repair societal divisions, and that inclusive, complex approaches to victimhood are necessary to build sustainable peace. This book will be of particular interest to scholars of peace studies, transitional justice and criminology.--