Manchester University Press Politics and Peace in Northern Ireland: Political Parties and the Implementation of the 1998 Agreement

Northern Ireland after 1998 was complex – and contradictory. The political moderates who sealed the internationally-admired Good Friday Agreement lost local public support. Paramilitary groups were on ceasefire yet highly active. Extremist parties increased in popularity but scaled back their demands. Northern Ireland was peaceful yet divided. Despite stability since 2007, tensions remain, though politics has stayed on a clear path away from violence and exclusion. Politics and peace in Northern Ireland is an incisive but accessible analysis of the post-settlement experience of a region widely regarded as an international beacon of the possibilities of peace. Using the lens of security dilemma theory, it begins with an illuminating and original overview of the conflict, the Agreement and post-1998 politics. The book then explores post-Agreement Northern Ireland through the eyes of each of the five main political parties, showing how they tried to shape the course of peace implementation, and how implementation, in turn, shaped the fates and fortunes of the parties. Drawing on extensive original research, this book explains the promise and limits of the Agreement. It shows how and why the two sides’ mutual insecurities repeatedly derailed peace implementation, and reflects on the likely direction of parties and politics in the future. This clearly-written and up-to-date book will be of interest to scholars and students of recent Northern Irish history, ethnic conflict and peace-making.