Peacemaking and Peacebuilding: Exploring Lessons from Northern Ireland
Facilitators: Gráinne Kelly, Gillian Robinson and Brandon Hamber

Overview

For most people in Northern Ireland, ‘the war is over.’ The 1994 ceasefires, 1998 Good Friday/Belfast Agreement, substantial demilitarisation and decommissioning of weapons, and the IRA’s stated end to its armed campaign dramatically reduced levels of violence and created a positive context for a political solution to the conflict. These developments owe much to the diplomatic efforts to move contending parties into dialogue and peace negotiations.  They are also testament to a broader peacebuilding process which took root following the peace agreement of 1998.  The Belfast accord did not emerge in a vacuum.  It was the result of many years of secret negotiations, private diplomacy, civil society initiatives, and ultimately, public support for the establishment of new working relationships between former enemies.  

To date, peacemaking and peacebuilding in Northern Ireland has involved many different actors working with various groups at all levels of society. It has been a process of addressing the root causes and consequences of conflict through institution building and reform, socio-economic transformation and societal, communal and individual reconciliation. Peacebuilding therefore concerns not only post-conflict reconstruction, but preventing the recurrence of violence and assisting the transition from conflict to self-sustaining and durable peace.

With the support of a range of external funding sources (including the European Union and the Irish-American diaspora), there have been many initiatives aimed at embedding the hard-won peace in Northern Ireland. This is especially true of interventions designed to improve relations within and between communities, as well as those designed to address the structural and socio-economic factors that contributed to the outbreak of ‘the Troubles’ in the late 1960’s. Countries across the globe therefore look to Northern Ireland for ideas and assistance in transforming conflict.

The week-long summer school, provides a unique opportunity to examine the trends, opportunities and challenges the region faces in relation to addressing the causes and consequences of conflict and to ensure its non-repetition.  Northern Ireland has much to share with other societies emerging from conflict – both negative and positive - and this intensive focus on the lessons emerging from a post-accord society will be of benefit to policymakers, practitioners and academics with an interest in conflict resolution and peacebuilding initiatives.

The course will combine both traditional lectures, guest speakers involved in peacemaking and peacebuilding in Northern Ireland, and a case-study based approach.  The course facilitators will provide a theoretical framework within which to understand the practice of peacebuilding in Northern Ireland, and explore the practical outworkings of these theories as they relate to the local experience.  The week-long programme will begin with an examination of the transition from intractable violence to negotiated peace – examining both the role of those who occupied seats at the negotiating table and the wider societal experience.  It will explore the content of the peace agreement reached and the breadth and depth of issues covered.  It will then go on to focus on two of the most significant challenges facing the region:  how do you address the significant intra- and inter-communal divisions which are the legacy of the conflict, and how to do deal with the thorny issue of ‘the past’.

Facilitated discussions and the relating of experiences from other societies experiencing conflict – particularly those of the course participants - will be key aspects to the course design and delivery.

Provisional Schedule

Note this schedule is for this Module only, it does not include the wider lectures for participants (Northern Ireland Programme) at 4pm each day and evening activities. A full programme will be supplied in due course of these activities.

Notes on Facilitators

Professor Gillian Robinson
Gillian Robinson is the Director of ARK (The Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive www.ark.ac.uk ). She is the 2003 Eisenhower Fellow from Northern Ireland. She has been involved in the monitoring of social attitudes in Northern Ireland since 1989 and co-directs the Northern Ireland Life and Times survey series. Her research interests include social attitudes, gender roles, policy development in transition and research methodology including issues around researching violent societies and comparative methods. She has published extensively on these issues including six books and numerous articles. Kelly

Gráinne Kelly
Gráinne Kelly is Policy/Practice Coordinator at the International Conflict Research Institute (INCORE) at the University of Ulster.  With extensive experience in teaching, training and conflict-related research, she brings a wealth of experience and knowledge on the Northern Ireland conflict, as well as the dynamics of conflict resolution and peacebuilding internationally.  She has conducted primary research and published widely on a range of conflict-related themes, including mediation practice, reconciliation and community relationship-building in Northern Ireland. Between 2001 and 2004, she was Research Officer with Democratic Dialogue, a policy-focused think tank based in Belfast, where she was engaged in a range of projects examining the political, social and economic challenges facing a new political dispensation in Northern Ireland. During this time, she co-developed (with Brandon Hamber) a two-year research project exploring the theories and practices of reconciliation in Northern Ireland.  In 2005, she was awarded an International Fellow at the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society, New York, exploring the concept of community foundations and their applicability to societies emerging from conflict. In 2006, she conducted an in-country study of the transferability of western concepts of reconciliation to post-conflict Cambodia and most co-ordinated an eight-country study of the role of philanthropy in divided and conflictual societies, including Sri Lanka, Colombia, Serbia and Northern Ireland. She is currently conducting a qualitative research project on ‘Progressing Good Relations and Reconciliation in Post-Agreement Northern Ireland’, funded by the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister’s Office, Northern Ireland Executive.  She holds an MA in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Ulster.  Recently published articles include “Too Deep, Too Threatening: Understandings of Reconciliation in Northern Ireland” in H. van der Merwe et al (ed) Transitional Justice, Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace.  (2009).

Brandon Hamber
Professor Brandon Hamber is the Director of INCORE (International Conflict Research Institute), an associate centre of the United Nations University, based at the University of Ulster. He is also Visiting Professor of Psychology at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. Prior to moving to Northern Ireland in 2001, he co-ordinated the Transition and Reconciliation Unit at the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in Johannesburg, South Africa. His is Chairperson of the Healing Through Remembering Initiative—a cross-community membership organisation focusing on ways of dealing with the past relating to the conflict in and about Northern Ireland. He has written extensively on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the psychological implications of political violence, transitional justice, trauma and reconciliation in various contexts. He has published some 40 book chapters and scientific journal articles, and edited the book entitled Past Imperfect: Dealing with the Past in Northern Ireland and Societies in Transition, which was published by INCORE/University of Ulster. His most recent book Transforming Transitional Societies: Truth, Reconciliation, and Mental Health was published by Springer in early 2009. In addition to his work in South Africa and Northern Ireland he has participated in peace, transitional justice and reconciliation initiatives and projects in Liberia, Mozambique, the Basque Country and Sierra Leone, among others.

Suggested reading

Aughey, Arthur. (2005). The Politics Of Northern Ireland: Beyond the Belfast Agreement. Oxford: Routledge.

Bew, Paul., Patterson, Henry., and Teague, Paul. (2000). Northern Ireland: Between War and Peace; The Political Future of Northern Ireland. London: Scarecrow.

Cox, Michael and Guelke, Adrian and Stephen, Fiona, eds. (2000) A farewell to arms? From "long war" to long peace in Northern Ireland. Manchester University Press, Manchester.

Guelke, A., ed., (2004) Democracy and ethnic conflict: advancing peace in deeply divided societies. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hamber, B. and Kelly, G. (2005).  A Place for Reconciliation? Conflict and Locality in Northern Ireland.  Belfast: Democratic Dialogue.  Also available online at: http://www.brandonhamber.com

Healing through Remembering (2006). Making Peace with the Past: Options for truth recovery regarding the conflict in and about Northern Ireland. Belfast: Healing Through Remembering.
Also available online at: www.healingthroughremembering.org

Hennessy, Thomas. (2001) The Northern Ireland Peace Process: Ending the Troubles? Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Irwin, Colin (2003) The People's Peace Process in Northern Ireland, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Lederach, John Paul (1998) Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies.  Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace Press.

Mac Ginty, Roger., and Darby, John. (2002) Guns and Government:The Management of the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Reychler, Luc, and Paffenholz, Thania (2001) Peacebuilding: A Field Guide. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Contact Details

Gráinne Kelly
Policy/Practice Coordinator, INCORE
University of Ulster, Magee Campus
Aberfoyle House, Northland Road, Derry/Londonderry
Northern Ireland, BT48 7JA
Tel: +44 (0)2871 375500
Fax: +44 (0)2871 375510
Email: g.kelly@ulster.ac.uk
INCORE: www.incore.ulster.ac.uk