scholarly journals The Strengths and Limitations of the Inclusion of Religious Actors in Peace Processes in Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Kmec ◽  
Gladys Ganiel
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Comparative Approach ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Transition Processes ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
Peace Processes ◽  
Religious Actors

Abstract This article uses a comparative approach to analyze the strengths and limitations of the inclusion of religious actors in peace and transition processes. It compares the theoretical frameworks of Bercovitch and Kadayifci-Orellana, and Brewer, demonstrating how the first helps us understand the strengths of religious actors, while the second sheds more light on their limitations. An analysis of the involvement of religious actors in the peace processes in Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina supports the argument that religious actors are more likely to contribute to peace when they are excluded from Track One negotiations and are active in other modalities of participation: in wider social peace processes at national or grass-roots levels. Religious actors can contribute to peace processes especially if they choose to exclude themselves from Track One negotiations in order to avoid the pitfalls of becoming too closely associated with political power.

Sinn Féin and the IRA

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathew Whiting
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Sinn Fein ◽  
Peace Processes ◽  
British Rule ◽  
Irish Republicanism ◽  
The Republic ◽  
British State ◽  
State Responses

When Sinn Féin and the IRA emerged in Northern Ireland in 1969 they used a combination of revolutionary politics and violence to an effort to overthrow British rule. Today, the IRA is in a state of ‘retirement’, violence is a tactic of the past, and Sinn Féin is a co-ruler of Northern Ireland and an ever growing political player in the Republic of Ireland. This is one of the most startling transformations of a radical violent movement into a peaceful political one in recent times. So what exactly changed within Irish republicanism, what remains the same, and, crucially, what caused these changes? Where existing studies explain the decision to end violence as the product of stalemate or strategic interplay with the British state, this book draws on a wealth of archival material and interviews to argue that moderation was a long-term process of increasing inclusion and contact with political institutions, which gradually extracted moderate concessions from republicanism. Crucially, these concessions did not necessitate republicans forsaking their long-term ethno-national goals. The book also considers the wider implications of Irish republicanism for other cases of separatist conflict, and has significance for the future study of state responses to violent separatism and of comparative peace processes.

scholarly journals Protestants, Peace and the Apocalypse: The USSR’s Religious Cold War, 1947–62

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Dobson
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
The West ◽  
Soviet State ◽  
Grass Roots ◽  
Religious Dimensions ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Capitalist World ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Religious Actors ◽  
Dualistic Approach

In recent years historians have paid growing attention to the religious dimensions of the Cold War. These studies have largely focused, however, on the capitalist world, particularly the rise of evangelicalism and fundamentalism in the USA. This article turns the spotlight on the communist adversary, asking whether the USSR also participated in a ‘religious Cold War'. Given the atheist convictions on which the Soviet state was founded, this might appear counter-intuitive, but religious dynamics were of growing importance in the USSR too. Soviet officials sought to create what was called an ‘ecumenical movement', inviting religious actors to become advocates for the Soviet peace message. Protestants, in particular, were important figures on the international stage because of the large communities of co-believers in the West. At the same time, however, the authorities were alarmed about various grass-roots phenomena at home which seemed to be on the rise as the Cold War escalated, such as pacifism and apocalyptic prediction. Faced with such threats, state tactics included the arrest of believers and hostile press campaigns. Even though the inconsistencies were readily visible to all, this dualistic approach was not abandoned and the ultimately self-defeating engagement with the ‘religious Cold War' continued.

Forgiving and Forgetting: A Post-Holocaust Dialogue on the Possibility of Healing

2000 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 542-561
Author(s):  
DAVID C. THOMASMA ◽  
DAVID N. WEISSTUB
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Political Power ◽  
African Immigrants ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
Dominant Culture ◽  
Innocent People ◽  
High Commissioner

At the end of this century there are so many occasions, so many residues of the most violent of times, that challenge the very idea of forgiveness—residues personal, political, social, and cultural. The harms are vast and yet close to home: alcoholism takes its toll on relationships, divorce undermines love, parental harshness and abuse create generations of problems for offspring, addictions of every sort turn humans into caged spirits. Additional and even greater challenges include infidelity, breaking public promises, political power plays, torture, genocidal slaughtering of races and tribes, civil and cultural wars, ancient enmities—Northern Ireland, Bosnia, the Tutsis and Hutus, the Shiite and Suni Moslems, the settlers and African immigrants in South Africa, indigenous populations against the dominant culture. The open violence and rapaciousness of human enmity can be viewed now in the displacement of masses of people in Kosovo. Said the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, about the Kosovo crisis: “It is frightening … that this century, as in its darkest hours, should end with the mass deportation of innocent people.”

Theories of International Relations and Northern Ireland

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Good Friday ◽  
Peace Processes ◽  
Middle Range ◽  
The World

The peace process in Northern Ireland is associated with the signing of the Good Friday or Belfast Agreement, the arduous and lengthy implementation of this Agreement, and the continuing sectarianism in Northern Ireland. Despite the numerous and various studies about this case, no collection of scholarly analysis to date has attempted to assess a wide variety of theories prominent in International Relations (IR) that relate directly to the conflict in Northern Ireland, the peace process, and the challenges to consolidating peace after an agreement. IR scholars have recently written about and debated issues related to paradigms, border settlement and peace, the need to provide security and disarm combatants, the role of agents and ideas, gender and security, transnational movements and actors, the role of religions and religious institutions, the role of regional international organizations, private sector promotion of peace processes, economic aid and peacebuilding, the emergence of complex cooperation even in the world of egoists, and the need for reconciliation in conflict torn societies. How do the theories associated with these issues apply in the context of Northern Ireland’s peace process? Theories of International Relations and Northern Ireland explores primarily middle-range theories of International Relations and examines these theories in the context of the important case of Northern Ireland.

The Past's Promise: Lessons from Peace Processes in Northern Ireland and the Middle East

2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory M. Maney ◽  
Ibtisam Ibrahim ◽  
Gareth I. Higgins ◽  
Hanna Herzog
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Peace Processes

Mediating among Mediators: Building a Consensus in Multilateral Interventions

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timea Spitka
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Violent Conflict ◽  
Consensus Building ◽  
Critical Question ◽  
International Intervention ◽  
Intervention Process

AbstractThe conditions under which multilateral international intervention are effective in ending a violent conflict is a critical question for scholars and practitioners. Scholarly studies have demonstrated the importance of a united intervention but have been in disagreement over the effectiveness of neutral versus partisan intervention. This article examines the conditions under which mediators construct a consensus on the type of intervention process. What are the factors that enable a consensus on a neutral versus a partisan intervention? Distinguishing between four types of international intervention processes – united-neutral, united-partisan, divided-partisan, and divided neutral and partisan intervention – this article argues that it is a united intervention, whether united partisan or united-neutral, that contributes to creating leverage on conflicting parties to end a conflict. The article examines consensus building among mediators within two divergent case studies: Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

scholarly journals Protest and Religion: An Overview

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasemin Akbaba
Keyword(s):  
Collective Identity ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Religious Perspective ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
Different Shapes ◽  
Religious Actors ◽  
Different Levels

After decades-long neglect, a growing body of scholarship is studying religious components of protests. Religion’s role as a facilitator, the religious perspective of protesters, the goals of religious actors as participants, and faith-based outcomes of protests have been examined using quantitative and qualitative methodology. Although it is now a thriving research field, due to recent contributions, incorporating faith-based variables in protest research is a challenging task since religion travels across different levels of analysis; effortlessly merges with thick concepts such as individual and collective identity; and takes different shapes and color when it surfaces in various social contexts across the globe. Therefore, at the religion and protest nexus, there are more questions than answers. Research in the field would improve by investing more on theoretical frameworks and expanding the availability of qualitative and quantitative data.

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