Breaking the Patterns of Conflict: The Irish State, the British Dimension and the Northern Ireland Conflict
Project Description
This interdisciplinary research assesses how British and Irish policy promoted and instigated change in the patterns of conflict in Northern Ireland. It does this by documenting key turning points in British and Irish relations and strategy towards Northern Ireland since the 1960s, through a series of 'witness seminars' and long interviews which have been taped, transcribed and deposited in the UCD Archives department.
The turning points include the Sunningdale conference, the Hunger Strikes, the Anglo-Irish Agreement, the Downing Street Declaration of 1993 and the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) and its implementation in the first term of the executive, 1998-2003 (where we study not just policy change but also inertia). Governmental strategies have changed slowly over the past decades and policy makers systematically take models from the past. However, misconceptions abound about the detail of past policies and their significance.
This project aims to build closer links between policy makers and academic researchers, in order to develop better understanding about how change develops and can be understood.
The project builds upon previous research conducted in the Institute for British Irish Studies funded by the John Whyte fund, which involved interviewing participants in the negotiations which led to the Belfast Agreement.
People (Breaking the Patterns of Conflict)
Researchers
- Principal Investigator: Professor John Coakley
- Co-Principal Investigator: Professor Jennifer Todd
- Research Fellow: Dr Christopher Farrington
- Doctoral Scholar: Michael Anderson
- Post Doctoral Scholar: Dr Robert Mauro
- Doctoral Scholar: Susan McDermott
Associate Researchers:
- Dr Michael Kennedy
- Professor Elizabeth Meehan
- Dr Peter McLoughlin
- Dr Niamh Purseil
Research Assistants
- Mark Dunne
- Anne Fournier
- Jennifer Jackson
- Cliona Kealy
- Edwin Kelly
- Ronan Kennedy
Publications (Breaking the Patterns of Conflict)
Publications from the project
John Coakley, (opens in a new window)‘Has the Northern Ireland problem been Resolved?’, Journal of Democracy, 19 (3), 2008
John Coakley, (opens in a new window)‘The consociational model and Northern Ireland’, in Rupert Taylor, ed., Consociational theory: McGarry/O’Leary and the Northern Ireland conflict, London, Routledge, 2009. This chapter looks at the manner in which constitutional and political institutional design has been used to tackle the conflict in Northern Ireland
John Coakley, (opens in a new window)‘Centres, peripheries, and party systems: nested secession process in Great Britain and Ireland’, Political geography 27, 2008, pp. 740-760. This article explores successive ways of territorial adjustment in redefining British-Irish relations
John Coakley, (opens in a new window)‘ “ Irish Republic”, “Eire” or “ Ireland”: the contested name of John Bull’s other island’, Political quarterly vol 80 no 1, 2009. Interprets the long-standing British-Irish dispute over the name of the state
John Coakley, (opens in a new window)‘Voting for union or unity? The complexities of public opinion on the border issue’, Journal of Cross-Border Studies in Ireland, no. 4, 2009. Examines shifting patterns of public opinion on the issue of partition
John Coakley, (opens in a new window)'The political consequences of the electoral system in Northern Ireland', Irish Political Studies, Vol 24, no. 3, 2009
Christopher Farrington, 'Unionists and Loyalists: Explaining the internal dynamics of an ethnic group' in Aaron Edwards and Stephen Bloomer (eds), Transforming the peace process in Northern Ireland: from terrorism to democratic politics. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2008
Christopher Farrington, (opens in a new window)‘Mobilization, state crisis and counter-mobilization: Ulster Unionist politics and the outbreak of the Troubles’, Irish Political Studies, Vol. 23 Issue 4, December 2008: pages 513 – 532. This article examines the role of Unionist politics in the outbreak of the Troubles. It seeks to advance the current debate on how and why the Troubles broke out by examining the interactions between the role of the state, the internal politics of Unionism, and the role of Unionist political elites in the developing crisis. It argues that these interactions should be understood from a comparative perspective, which allows for a greater appreciation of how communal divisions and social change led to a process of violent conflict.
Christopher Farrington, (opens in a new window)‘Reconciliation or irredentism: The Irish Government and the Sunningdale communiqué 1973’, Contemporary European History, 16 (1), 2007
Joseph Ruane and Jennifer Todd, (opens in a new window)‘Path dependence in settlement processes: explaining settlement in Northern Ireland’, Political Studies, 55 (2), 2007
Jennifer Todd, (opens in a new window)‘Equality as steady state or equality as threshold? Northern Ireland after the Good Friday ( Belfast) Agreement, 1998’ in Adrian Guelke, ed., The Challenges of Ethno-nationalism, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010
Jennifer Todd, (opens in a new window)‘Northern Ireland: from multiphased conflict to multi-levelled settlement’, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 15 (3, 4), 2009
Discussion Paper Series
- Jennifer Todd, Equality as steady state or equality as threshold? Northern Ireland after the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement, 1998
- Jennifer Todd, Northern Ireland: A multi-phased history of conflict, a multi-levelled process of settlement
- Jennifer Todd, One State or two? Anticipating opportunities for and obstacles to identity shift
- Jennifer Todd, Sunningdale: An Agreement too soon?
- Cillian McGrattan, The Sunningdale Communiqué, 1973, and bipartisanship in the Republic of Ireland
- John Coakley, “Dublin is just a Sunningdale away”? The SDLP, the Irish Government and the Sunningdale Agreement
- Susan McDermott, Analysing the development of bipartisanship in the Dail: the interaction of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail party politics on the Irish government policy on Northern Ireland
- John Coakley, Adapting consociation to Northern Ireland
- Jennifer Todd, Elite intent, public reaction and institutional change
Conference Papers
Michael Anderson, 'Breaking patterns of conflict: creating a new dynamic of relations between Dublin and loyalism': UK Political Studies Association SG on Comparative and British Territorial Politics, Oxford, 7-8 Jan 2010
Michael Anderson, 'Loyalists: Including the "Awkwards"': IBIS 'Breaking Patterns' Conference, 12 March 2010
John Coakley, 'Constitutional blueprints and political structures': Political Studies Association of Ireland annual conference, Liverpool, 9-11 Oct 2009
John Coakley, 'Institutional reform and peace settlements in divided societies: evidence from Northern Ireland': Australian National University, Canberra, School of Politics and International Relations Research Seminar Series, 12 April 2010
John Coakley, 'The end of the "special relationship" and the beginning of peace in Northern Ireland': British Politics Group Annual Meeting, American Political Science Association, Washington, DC, Sep 2010
Paul Gillespie, 'How political change in the European Union affects British-Irish relations': UK Political Studies Association SG on Comparative and British Territorial Politics, Oxford, 7-8 Jan 2010
Avila Kilmurray, 'Civil society in Northern Ireland changing the narrative in the interests of peace-building': IBIS 'Breaking Patterns' Conference, 12 March 2010
Susan McDermott, 'Irish party politics, Hillsborough 1985 to Belfast 1998': Political Studies Association of Ireland annual conference, Liverpool, 9-11 Oct 2009
Susan McDermott, 'The journey from Hillsborough 1985 to Belfast 1998: analysing the role of Irish party politics in the transition of Irish government policy from the Anglo-Irish Agreement to the Good Friday Agreement': UK Political Studies Association SG on Comparative and British Territorial Politics, Oxford, 7-8 Jan 2010
Susan McDermott, 'Developing intergovernmental approaches: evidence from the politicians': IBIS 'Breaking Patterns' Conference, 12 March 2010
Cillian McGrattan, 'Settlement processes in Northern Ireland': Political Studies Association of Ireland annual conference, Liverpool, 9-11 Oct 2009
Cillian McGrattan, 'The spectre of history: Northern nationalism and the peace process': IBIS 'Breaking Patterns' Conference, 12 March 2010
Stanley Samarasinghe, 'Sri Lanka after the end of the war': IBIS 'Breaking Patterns' Conference, 12 March 2010
Jennifer Todd, 'The Anglo-Irish Agreement, constitutional metaphors and institutional change': Political Studies Assocation of Ireland annual conference, Liverpool, 9-11 Oct 2009
Jonathan Tonge, 'New Sinn Fein and old ("dissident") republicanism: Ideological and demographic trends': IBIS 'Breaking Patterns' Conference, 12 March 2010
Working Papers
- Sean Farren, Institutional change and conflict regulation: the Anglo-Irish Agreement (1985) and the mechanisms of change in Northern Ireland
- Catherine O’Donnell, Resistance, obstruction and agenda-setting: the hidden politics of the Northern Ireland settlement
- PJ McLoughlin, Implementation issues and the pursuit of a settlement in Northern Ireland
Developing Research
Further information on current and developing research papers emerging from the project will be made available.