Global Change, Civil Society and the Peace Process in Northern Ireland

This book places the implementation of the Belfast Agreement in a wider context to provide an analysis of why implementation has been so difficult.

Northern Ireland’s Belfast Agreement has faced continual crises of implementation over a variety of security related issues. Too frequently analyses have neglected to study the wider changes that have occurred inside and outside Northern Ireland. These have had profound effects in changing attitudes towards violence, paramilitaries, the position of women and ideas of nationalism and sovereignty. This book places the implementation of the Belfast Agreement in a wider context to provide an analysis of why implementation has been so difficult.

CHRISTOPHER FARRINGTON is Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Politics and International Relations at University College Dublin, Eire.

Introduction: Politics in Northern Ireland since the Belfast Agreement * INTERNATIONAL DIMENSIONS * The US War on Terrorism and Its Impact on the Politics of Accommodation in Northern Ireland–D.Schmitt * ‘We’re not quite as interesting as we used to be’: Conflicting Interpretations of the International Dimension among Northern Irish Political Elites–C.Farrington * From the EU in NI to NI in the EU–E.Meehan * The Lure of the Miracle? The South African Connection and the Northern Ireland Peace Process–A.Guelke * Sinn Féin and Batasuna: Fact and Fiction in an Evolving Relationship–E.O’Broin * CIVIL SOCIETY DIMENSIONS * The Belfast Agreement: The Retreat of Political Thought–R.Taylor * From Violence to Intolerance: Ethno-Nationalism and the Crowding Out of Civic Life–R.Wilson * The Unintended Consequences of Power-Sharing: A Compared Exploration of the Belfast Agreement and Lebanese Ta’if Accord–D.Russell * Models of Civil Society and their Implications for the Northern Irish Peace Process–C.Farrington * Women, Civil society and Peacebuilding–M.Potter * A Framework for Understanding Religion in Northern Irish Civil Society–G.Ganiel * Conclusion: Security Challenges in an Imperfect Peace