The Northern Ireland peace process

This book offers a re-evaluation of the emergence, development and outcome of the peace process in Northern Ireland. Drawing on interviews with many of the key participants of the peace process, newly released archival material and the existing scholarship on the conflict, it explains the decisions that shaped the peace process in their proper context.

O'Kane argues that although the outcome of the process can be seen as a success, it is not the outcome that was originally expected or intended by most of its participants. By tracing the process and highlighting the pragmatic decisions of the parties that shaped it the work explains how Northern Ireland moved from conflict to peace. The book concludes by examining what the implications of Brexit are for Northern Ireland’s hard-won peace and political stability.

1 The origins of the peace process
2 The emergence (and collapse) of the peace process, 1990–1997
3 New Labour’s new peace process? Negotiating the Agreement, 1997–1998
4 Implementing the Agreement, from exaltation to exasperation, 1998–2003
5 The reconfiguration of Northern Ireland’s politics, from devolution to destruction, 2003–2017
6 Governing the present, dealing with the past and learning the lessons for the future

Index