The British and Peace in Northern Ireland: The Process and Practice of Reaching Agreement
Cambridge University Press
Edition: First Edition, 3/12/2015
EAN 9781107617506, ISBN10: 1107617502
Paperback, 378 pages, 22.8 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm
Language: English
How did the British Government and Civil Service shape the Northern Ireland peace process? What kind of tensions and debates were being played out between the two governments and the various parties in Northern Ireland? Addressing texts, negotiations, dialogues, space, leverage, strategy, ambiguity, interpersonal relations and convergence, this is the first volume to examine how senior British officials and civil servants worked to bring about power-sharing in Northern Ireland. With a unique format featuring self-authored inside accounts and interview testimonies, it considers a spectrum of areas and issues that came into play during the dialogues and negotiations that led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and political accommodation in Northern Ireland. This book provides a compelling insight into what actually happened inside the negotiating room and how the British tried to shape the course of negotiations.
Introduction
1. The terrain of discourse Sir Kenneth Bloomfield
2. The Anglo-Irish Agreement
an interview with Sir David Goodall and Lord Armstrong of Ilminster
3. The constitutional issue in Irish politics David Hill
4. Negotiations and positions
an interview with Sir John Chilcot
5. Resolving intercommunal conflict
some enabling factors Sir Quentin Thomas
6. Tactics, strategy and space Chris Maccabe
7. The Joint Declaration and memory David Cooke
8. Movement and transition in 1997
Major to Blair Sir John Holmes
9. The challenge of symmetry in dialogue
an interview with Sir Joseph Pilling
10. Why was the Good Friday Agreement so hard to implement? Lessons from Groundhog Day, 1998–2002 Sir Bill Jeffrey
11. Text and context
an interview with William Fittall
12. The nature of dialogue
an interview with Sir Jonathan Phillips
13. Managing the tensions of difference
an interview with Jonathan Powell
Conclusion.