Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Contributors
- 1 Introduction: Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland
- 2 Understanding the Role of Non-aligned Civil Society in Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland: Towards a Fresh Approach
- 3 The Role of Civil Society in Promoting Peace in Northern Ireland
- 4 The Contribution of Integrated Schools to Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland
- 5 Providing a Prophetic Voice? Churches and Peacebuilding, 1968–2005
- 6 ‘Peace Women’, Gender and Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland: From Reconciliation and Political Inclusion to Human Rights and Human Security
- 7 Encumbered by Data: Understanding Politically Motivated Former Prisoners and the Transition to Peace in Northern Ireland
- 8 Loyalism and Peacebuilding in the 2000s
- 9 Civil Society, the State and Conflict Transformation in the Nationalist Community
- 10 Examining the Peacebuilding Policy Framework of the Irish and British Governments
- 11 Building Peace and Crossing Borders: The North/South Dimension of Reconciliation
- 12 Peace Dividends: The Role of External Aid in Peacebuilding
- Index
3 - The Role of Civil Society in Promoting Peace in Northern Ireland
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Contributors
- 1 Introduction: Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland
- 2 Understanding the Role of Non-aligned Civil Society in Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland: Towards a Fresh Approach
- 3 The Role of Civil Society in Promoting Peace in Northern Ireland
- 4 The Contribution of Integrated Schools to Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland
- 5 Providing a Prophetic Voice? Churches and Peacebuilding, 1968–2005
- 6 ‘Peace Women’, Gender and Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland: From Reconciliation and Political Inclusion to Human Rights and Human Security
- 7 Encumbered by Data: Understanding Politically Motivated Former Prisoners and the Transition to Peace in Northern Ireland
- 8 Loyalism and Peacebuilding in the 2000s
- 9 Civil Society, the State and Conflict Transformation in the Nationalist Community
- 10 Examining the Peacebuilding Policy Framework of the Irish and British Governments
- 11 Building Peace and Crossing Borders: The North/South Dimension of Reconciliation
- 12 Peace Dividends: The Role of External Aid in Peacebuilding
- Index
Summary
The Good Friday or Belfast Agreement of 1998 endeavoured to create a political framework for governing Northern Ireland. Because the Agreement attempted to manage the conflict through consociationalism, or as some see it, power sharing among elites, it did not focus on mass-level politics and hence was not designed to overcome the sectarian division in Northern Ireland. The institutions of the new governing system were based on sectarian self-identification of elites and provided little incentive for politicians to transcend historic communal differences. Prosperity and peace were meant to improve both communities but not force them to live together. Many organisations have been created over the past few decades to encourage peace and societal transformation at the grassroots level. However, their effectiveness has been questioned, and many have criticised the community-relations industry. Most of the domestic as well as international efforts at fostering cross-community linkages have failed to do so. One exception to this general pattern has been the faith-based Church Fora that emerged around the time of the Agreement that strove to help develop civil society in Northern Ireland.
This chapter builds upon recent scholarship that has developed theoretical frameworks to explain the resolution of ethnic conflict. The assumption of this research is that one cannot just deny or manipulate identities to reduce or eliminate conflict. Cochrane has demonstrated the difficulty of ending Civil Wars like the conflict in Northern Ireland due to the fact that civilians are both perpetrators and victims.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Building Peace in Northern Ireland , pp. 37 - 52Publisher: Liverpool University PressPrint publication year: 2011