Extending Peace to the Grassroots
Challenge
From the early 1970’s to the mid 1990’s Northern Ireland was the site of bitter conflict between those struggling for reunification with the rest of Ireland and those wanting the region to remain a part of the United Kingdom. The Irish-British international border could not be agreed upon. To overcome this tension the Belfast Agreement was signed in 1998. However, the Agreement failed to transform the relationship between opposing ethnic communities in the Northern Ireland region. The conflict raged between two social categories, Catholics and Protestants, both largely hereditary and immutable. The Agreement had left the groups believing that the state did not effectively represent their interests, arbitrate intergroup disputes, or protect them and prepare to defend them against the violence that pursued in retaliation. Not only had ethnic conflict persisted in the wake of the Agreement but it also became institutionalized. Those elected were compelled to identify with one of the sectarian groups, thus ensuring that differing identities persisted. To work towards resolution two things would have to be done: the building of inclusive institutions and reshaping ethnic identities and beliefs.
Process
Ethnic identities and beliefs are social constructions; as such, they are likely to change. The Agreement had devised a governing system based on sectarian self-identification of elites, reinforcing historic ethnic differences as opposed to providing incentive to transcend communal boundaries. As a result, difficulty arose in establishing trust across the communities. The lack of trust created immediate challenges to institutionalize the governing arrangements of the Agreement fully. Building trust is best done by strengthening civil society and working towards reconciliation. By strengthening civil society and achieving reconciliation identities can then slowly evolve between the British and Irish governments regarding how Northern Ireland should be governed over time. This means that the people of Northern Ireland would need to redefine their identity and ultimately the two ethnic groups must come to their own internal settlement. A just and lasting peace requires not just pacts or secret agreements by political elites, but rather a true reconciliation between the former adversarial communities. The Agreement did not provide this, leaving social and political tension between the communities.
The Agreement had attempted to break the historical divide between communities by re-envisioning a Northern Ireland that belonged to both through the context of a developed local government. Encouraging the groups to participate jointly in governance would ensure that each group assumes its beliefs, values and security are protected by the state. The effective implementation of such a complex, multilevel agreement cannot be achieved by the political elites without mass-based support. Decisions cannot be made by political leaders alone, but requires active involvement within and between communities. However, in such a divided society, trust will mean not only that individuals are willing to interact with members of the other community but also that they are willing to share in governance and societal institutions without fear of being harmed. The legacy of sectarianism in Northern Ireland makes trust very difficult. There are historic expectations of fear, suspicion, revenge and recrimination. Leaders hoped that the Agreement may “unfreeze” long-held beliefs and attitudes and that emerging cooperation might create the expectation of future, reciprocal, cooperative interactions.
Resolution
To overcome Northern Ireland’s ethnic conflict focus should be shifted from institutions to civil society, from elites to the grassroots level. Although the Agreement creatively provided political institutions that allowed elites to share power, these institutions cannot promote peace at the grassroots level or the level of a fully functional democracy while societal trust remains low. To repair societal trust, Northern Ireland must look outside of formal institutions. Peace agreements require the mass public to endorse them, if no other reason than to give the new government, institutions and arrangements legitimacy in the eyes of the communities. Local populations must be involved in the peace process and the subsequent new political institutions to make the process self-sustaining. Northern Ireland must also foster civil society by finding and encouraging ways for the divided communities to interact, so as to create a united, ethnically mixed society.
A lack of reconciliation threatens the Agreement. The people of Northern Ireland have failed to confront the fullness of their history- the good and the bad. It is therefore crucial for all citizens of Northern
Ireland to reconcile and define a shared vision for the future. As we look into the future of Northern Ireland, reconciliation between the communities would make the building of a civil society an easier task. By constructing a shared history the communities can delink identity from the events of the past, and by changing these identities, they set the foundation for healing the deep rifts that reinforce sectarianism, undermine civil society and fuel the ethnic security dilemma.
Outcome
Sustainable peace in Northern Ireland cannot rely solely upon elite politicians and power sharing, but needs to be built from the ground up. Such an approach stresses building better relationships between the communities at the grassroots level. The betterment of these relationships requires that identities change to resolve the ethnic security dilemma that remains in the wake of the Agreement. This can best be accomplished through reconciliation and strengthening of civil society, each of which reduces fear and mistrust and raises expectation of future cooperation. Civil society and reconciliation promise to support the Agreement and the progress it has made in conflict management. The Agreement works best when constituents expect cooperation from their representatives, permitting the type of negotiations and compromise commonly found in successful democracies. In this way, societal trust can generate trust in the political process. These institutions in return can then reinforce social trust. Conflict resolution will not be fully realized until there is an improved associational life that successfully integrates Catholics and Protestants in social networks that create the interpersonal trust, social capital, and civil society necessary for a fully functioning democracy. This will require groups to address their past and construct a shared vision of the future, thereby reducing sectarian identities and providing room for other identities to develop and assert themselves. Such actions require long-term perspective. Northern Ireland must now be vigilant against the reemergence of prior obstacles and address two remaining hurdles to positive peace: the creation of a civil society that integrates both sides of the conflict and the construction of a shared historical truth about conflict itself.
Lessons from the Northern Ireland Peace Process
