‘from the doubting eyes of estrangement (...) to the welcoming eyes of friendship.’ (original) (raw)
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Treatises and Documents, Journal of Ethnic Studies, 2023
Reconciliation and consociation were at the core of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement (BGFA) in 1998. Analysis of the politics of the last 25 years in Northern Ireland (NI), however, reveals that many presumed aspects of reconciliation-integrated education, desegregated living, the disbandment of armed groups, cultural rapprochement, linguistic and cultural diversity, safe and secure shared public space, an approach to the past which puts the suffering of victims at its core-remain unaddressed or are deeply disputed. The article explores how consociational government in Northern Ireland has gradually decayed under pressure from this weakness. Since 2016, reconciliation has been a secondorder consideration for the shaping partnership between the United Kingdom (U.K.) and Ireland which made the Agreement possible, leaving the Agreement at risk from the repeated exercise of the veto and dependent on the absence of any alternative, rather than proactive commitment.
2017
Joseph Liechty, who has personal experience of working for and teaching about reconciliation in Northern Ireland, examines the origins and development of what has become since the late 1980s a flood of published material on the subject, beginning with the proceedings of a conference (Reconciling memories) published in 1988, edited by Alan Falconer. Noting that there are few generally agreed definitions of what ‘reconciliation’ involves, Liechty suggests that a solid sense of identity in the conflicting parties is essential if there is to be any progress in creating better mutual understanding, and there has to be some sense within conflicting communities that they ‘belong together’, whether as an expression of a political ideal or out of simple political necessity. The key chapters of Reconciling memories are examined, and Liechty concludes that as far as the past is concerned, historians can contribute to reconciliation without compromising their integrity. However, he stresses tha...
Peace Agreements – Mapping the Path from a Frozen Peace to Reconciliation in Northern Ireland
According to Ni Aolain and Campbell ‘the first 50 years of the Northern Ireland state was also a period characterised by severe democratic dysfunctionality ’. Prior to the outbreak of conflict in Northern Ireland the situation could have been termed a “frozen” conflict. ? Could the conflict re-freeze into a “cold peace” if the issue of genuine reconciliation is not considered only to reignite again? This essay responds to that question and maps the future.