“Was There Ever a Before?”

Mapping Intimacies ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190095574.003.0004 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 99-156

Author(s):

James Waller

Keyword(s):

Northern Ireland ◽

Real Time ◽

Risk And Resilience ◽

Peace Agreement ◽

Potential Conflict ◽

Sustainable Peace ◽

Challenges And Opportunities ◽

Time Assessment

We know the cessation of conflict is not the solution to all the drivers of that conflict. In the case of Northern Ireland, it is far too much to expect that slightly more than 20 years of “peace”—faltering and hesitant throughout—somehow has counteracted completely the prior 30 years of destabilizing conflict (let alone the 800 years of deep identity divisions). In this current moment, while many elements of the peace agreement have held fast, the peace seems more fragile than ever. Part II of this book offers a real-time assessment of the degree to which contemporary Northern Ireland is letting its hard-earned peace slip through its fingers. Engaging these coupled realities of risk and resilience in the context of contemporary accelerators and triggers of potential conflict will help us understand the challenges and opportunities a society faces in moving from conflict to a stable, enduring, and sustainable peace.

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A Troubled Sleep

10.1093/oso/9780190095574.001.0001 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

James Waller

Keyword(s):

Northern Ireland ◽

Violent Conflict ◽

Religious Leaders ◽

Risk And Resilience ◽

Peace Agreement ◽

Face To Face ◽

The Troubles ◽

Tour Guides ◽

Post Conflict ◽

Health Practitioners

A Troubled Sleep: Risk and Resilience in Contemporary Northern Ireland revisits one of the world’s most deeply divided societies more than 20 years after a peace agreement brought an end to the Troubles. The book asks if the conflict, while perhaps managed and contained, has been transformed—structurally and relationally—into a win-win situation for both sides. It addresses this question by drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, comparative research, and more than 110 hours of face-to-face interviews with politicians, activists, community workers, former political prisoners, former (and sometimes current) paramilitary members, academics, journalists, mental health practitioners, tour guides, school teachers, museum curators, students, police and military personnel, legal experts, and religious leaders across Northern Ireland. The heart of the book analyzes Northern Ireland’s current vulnerabilities and points of resilience as an allegedly “post-conflict” society. The vulnerabilities are analyzed through a model of risk assessment that examines the longer term and slower moving structures, measures, society-wide conditions, and processes that leave societies vulnerable to violent conflict. Such risk factors include the interpretation of conflict history, how authority in a country is exercised, and the susceptibility to social disharmony, isolation, and fragmentation. Resilience is examined from a survey of the countering influences, both within and outside Northern Ireland, that are working diligently to confirm humanity by reducing or reversing these vulnerabilities. The book concludes by examining the accelerating factors in contemporary Northern Ireland that may lead to an escalation of crisis as well as the triggering factors that could spark the onset of violent conflict itself.

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Introduction

10.1093/oso/9780190095574.003.0001 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-18

Author(s):

James Waller

Keyword(s):

Northern Ireland ◽

Violent Conflict ◽

Risk And Resilience ◽

Potential Conflict ◽

Social Fragmentation ◽

The Troubles ◽

Contextual Understanding

Today, more than 50 years since the Troubles began and more than 20 years after they “ended,” has Northern Ireland rebuilt differently enough so as to ensure nonrecurrence of violent conflict? Has the conflict, while perhaps managed and contained, been transformed—structurally and relationally—into a win-win situation for both sides embroiled in the conflict? Does Northern Ireland have the resiliency to withstand the internal and external stressors that may threaten a destabilization of its fragile peace? To answer those questions requires an honest analysis of the current vulnerabilities in Northern Ireland related to memory, governance, and social fragmentation, as well as an assessment of the actors, organizations, and strategies that can reduce or reverse those vulnerabilities. Engaging these coupled realities of risk and resilience, situated in a contextual understanding of contemporary accelerators and triggers of potential conflict, is where reasons for hope, however fragile, will be found.

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