The Role of Economic Assistance in Conflict Resolution in Northern Ireland

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Byrne ◽  
Cynthia Irvin ◽  
Eyob Fissuh ◽  
Chris Cunningham
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Support Program ◽  
Civic Culture ◽  
Economic Assistance ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Special Support ◽  
Peace Dividend ◽  
International Fund ◽  
Peace And Reconciliation

External economic assistance from the International Fund for Ireland and the European Union Special Support Program for Peace and Reconciliation assisted in setting the context of the Northern Ireland peace agenda, and holds out the promise of a new civic culture. This article explores people’s perceptions of economic assistance of conflict amelioration in Northern Ireland. Some of the findings, in respect of inter-community differences in perceptions of the utility of external economic assistance in building the peace dividend, are discussed in the paper.

The role of the International Fund for Ireland and the European Union Peace II Fund in reducing violence and sectarianism in Northern Ireland

2010 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Byrne ◽  
Eyob Fissuh ◽  
Chuck Thiessen ◽  
Cynthia Irvin ◽  
Pauline Tennent
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
The European Union ◽  
International Fund

The International Fund for Ireland: Economic Assistance and the Northern Ireland Peace Process

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Byrne ◽  
Eyob Fissuh ◽  
Mislav Matic
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Social Development ◽  
Economic Assistance ◽  
Direct Experience ◽  
Community Groups ◽  
Development Officers ◽  
Ethnopolitical Conflict ◽  
International Fund ◽  
Study Participants

The role of the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) is examined within the context of the conflict in Northern Ireland through the perspectives of community groups, civil servants and development officers. Specifically, this paper examines the views of 36 study participants from Northern Ireland and the Border Area—that have direct experience with protracted ethnopolitical conflict and with the IFI. Further, this paper explains the importance of economic and social development to peacebuilding within Northern Ireland.

Peacebuilding Interventions

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-111
Author(s):  
Ane Cristina Figueiredo ◽  
Calum Dean ◽  
Sean Byrne ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Community Leaders ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Development Officers ◽  
External Aid ◽  
International Fund ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Peace And Reconciliation

This article examines the perceptions and experiences of 120 participants interviewed in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties in 2010 regarding community peacebuilding, and the future of community-based projects. The respondents shared their thoughts on the projects and program initiatives funded by the European Union Peace and Reconciliation or Peace III Fund and the International Fund for Ireland. They discussed the impacts of external aid on the community peacebuilding process as well as the long-term sustainability of projects. This study explores the narratives of community leaders and program development officers from Derry and the Border Counties. The findings emphasize that while the participants noted that the external aid contributed to promoting community peacebuilding, there is a lot more to be addressed in terms of cross-community interaction. Additionally, there is an uncertainty regarding the sustainability of many project initiatives once the funds end. As a result of such insecurity, there is a concern regarding the stability of peace in the region.

Assessing external funding supports for the Northern Ireland peace process

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Buchanan
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Transformation Process ◽  
External Funding ◽  
Root Cause ◽  
Social And Economic Development ◽  
Grassroots Level ◽  
International Fund

Chapter ten explores the role of external economic aid in conflict resolution and since the signing of the Agreement to promote peacebuilding. In moving from violence to peace, most efforts have concentrated on the removal of direct violence through top level political engagement, usually over the short-term. However, a number of external funding programmes have focused their efforts on all levels of society, supporting the Northern Ireland peace process over the long-term through social and economic development. By focusing on the local, they have attempted to redress the root cause of conflict in Northern Ireland. Under the guise of the International Fund for Ireland and the EU Peace programmes (I, II, III), they have been responsible for a huge increase in grassroots level involvement in the region’s conflict transformation process, prompting previously unforeseen levels of citizen empowerment and local ownership of the process. Consequently this has assisted in sustaining the peace process during its most challenging political periods.

Understanding Peacebuilding in Derry/Londonderry, Northern Ireland

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-85
Author(s):  
Sean Byrne ◽  
Ashleigh Cummer ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Civil Society Organization ◽  
The European Union ◽  
The Past ◽  
Belfast Agreement ◽  
International Fund

Two qualitative data sets from 2010 and 2016 are compared to explore the respondents’ perceptions of peacebuilding in the wake of the 1998 Belfast Agreement (BA) and the ensuing peace process. Fifty-two Civil Society Organization (CSO) leaders from Londonderry/Derry were interviewed during the summer of 2010 to delve into their perceptions of the BA, and building cross community contact through peacebuilding and reconciliation processes. The International Fund for Ireland and the European Union Peace Fund funded these respondents CSO peacebuilding projects. They held many viewpoints on peacebuilding. Seven grassroots peacebuilders from Derry/Londonderry were interviewed in 2016. These peacebuilders revealed that Northern Ireland has a long way to go to build an authentic and genuine peace. A key stumbling block to the Northern Ireland peace process is heightened societal segregation that results from the BA institutionalizing sectarianism, and the recent fallout from Brexit. Politicians continue to refuse addressing the past that has long-term implications for peace.

‘Truth recovery’ and the role of the security forces in the Northern Ireland Troubles

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Peace Process ◽  
The State ◽  
Security Forces ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
The Past ◽  
British State ◽  
Peace And Reconciliation

In light of the controversies that remain about Bloody Sunday and other violent episodes involving the state, this chapter examines three important aspects to the debate around truth recovery and the role of the Security Forces in the Troubles. First, it asks what role the Security Forces played in the conflict according to official state narratives. Second, it examines the apparent obfuscation of security forces’ experiences by an anti-state republican agenda. Here the chapter makes the case that republicans do this because of a need to reinforce tropes of meaning that preserve the integrity of the killings carried out by the Provisional IRA, while justifying continued hostility to the British state as well as their commitment to a peace process. Lastly, the chapter asks what consequences these official state and anti-state representations of the past have had on attempts to ‘give a voice’ to Security Forces victims (particularly those from Britain) amidst the apparent obfuscating of terrorist violence. By marginalising the experiences of those who soldiered during the Troubles we risk skewing our understanding of the three dimensional nature of the conflict and further postponing the opportunities to move towards meaningful peace and reconciliation.

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