This article explores the interview narratives of 98 Northern Irish participants (consisting of NGO and community group leaders, development officers, and civil servants responsible for funding grassroots peacebuilding work) regarding their hopes and fears for the future. These civil society leaders expressed a wide variety of hopes and fears addressing both the micro grassroots and the macro political levels of society. An analysis of these expressed hopes and fears is both instructive and significant. Civil society peacebuilding actors have been given significant voice in the Northern Ireland peace process. The findings reveal significant hope that reconciliation work at the grassroots level will be successful, but conversely, they also reveal noticeable fear regarding the political peace process and the resumption of political violence.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AhmedShamimaPotterDavid. 2006. NGOs in International Politics. Bloomfield: Kumarian Press Inc.
2.
BewPaul. 2007. Ireland: The Politics of Enmity 1789–2006. New York: Oxford University Press.
3.
BogdanRobertBiklenSari Knopp. 2007. Qualitative Research for Education: An Introduction to Theory and Methods. Toronto: Pearson Education, Inc.
4.
BouldingElise. 1988. Building a Global Civic Culture: Education for an Interdependent World. New York: Teachers College Press.
5.
BrownMichael. 2001. “Ethnic and Internal Conflicts: Causes and Implications.” Pp. 209–226 in Turbulent Peace: The Challenges of Managing International Conflict, edited by CrockerC.HampsonF. O.AallP.. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press.
6.
ByrneSean. 1997. Growing Up in a Divided Society: The Influence of Conflict on Belfast Schoolchildren. London: Associated University Press.
7.
ByrneSean. 2009. Economic Assistance and the Northern Ireland Conflict. Cranbury, NJ: Rosemont Publishing and Printing Corp.
8.
ByrneSeanIrvinCynthia. 2002. “A Shared Common Sense: Perceptions and Impacts of Economic Growth in Northern Ireland.”Civil Wars5:55–86.
9.
ByrneSeanKeashlyLoraleigh. 2000. “Working with Ethno-Political Conflict: A Multi-Modal and Multi-Level Approach to Conflict Intervention.”International Peacekeeping7:97–120.
10.
ByrneSeanThiessenChuckFissuhEyob. 2007. “Economic Assistance and Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland.”Peace Research: The Canadian Journal of Peace and Conflict Studies39:7–22.
11.
ByrneSeanThiessenChuckFissuhEyobIrvinCynthiaHawranikMarcia. 2008. “Economic Assistance, Development, and Peacebuilding: The Role of the IFI and EU Peace II Fund in Northern Ireland.”Civil Wars10:108–126.
12.
Cairns, Ed. 1982. “Intergroup conflict in Northern Ireland.” Pp. 277–298 in Social Identity and Intergroup Relations, edited by TajfelH.. New York: Cambridge University Press.
13.
CarterJimmy. 1996. “Foreword.” Pp. ix–xi in Resolving International Conflicts: The Theory and Practice of Mediation, edited by BercovitchJ.. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
14.
CharmazKathy. 2005. “Grounded theory in the 21st century.” Pp. 507–535 in The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research, edited by DenzinN. K.LincolnY. S.. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.
15.
ChatfieldCharles. 1997. “Intergovernmental and nongovernmental associations.” Pp. 19–41 in Transnational Social Movements and Global Politics, edited by SmithJ.ChatfieldC.PagnuccoR.. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press.
16.
CochraneFeargal. 2006. “Two Cheers for the NGOs: Building Peace From Below in Northern Ireland.” Pp. 253–267 in A Farewell to Arms?: Beyond the Good Friday Agreement, edited by CoxM.GuelkeA.StephenF.. New York: Manchester University Press.
17.
CoxMichaelGuelkeAdrianStephenFiona. 2006. “A Farewell to Arms?: Beyond the Good Friday Agreement.”New York: Manchester University Press.
18.
CrockerChester A.2001. “Intervention: Towards best practices and a holistic view.” Pp. 229–248 in Turbulent Peace: The Challenges of Managing International Conflict, edited by CrockerC.HampsonF. O.AallP.. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press.
19.
DarbyJohn. 2001. The Effects of Violence on Peace Processes. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press.
20.
DarbyJohn. 2006. “Violence and reconstruction.”Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
21.
DiamondLouiseMcDonaldJohn W.. 1996. Multi-track Diplomacy: A Systems Approach to Peace. West Hartford, Conn.: Kumarian Press.
22.
DruckmanDaniel. 2005. Doing Research: Methods of Inquiry for Conflict Analysis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
23.
FarrellMichael. 1976. Northern Ireland: The Orange State. London: Pluto Press.
24.
FitzduffMari. 2002. Beyond Violence: Conflict Resolution Processes in Northern Ireland. New York: United Nations University Press.
25.
GoodhandJonathan. 2006. Aiding Peace?: The Role of NGOs in Armed Conflict. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
26.
HawkenPaul. 2007. Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came Into Being and Why No One Saw it Coming. New York: Viking.
27.
IrishTimes.com. 2009, “Ireland's Recession May Hamper NI Economic Recovery”, Retrieved July 3, 2009.
KnoxColinQuirkPadraic. 2000. Peace Building in Northern Ireland, Israel, and South Africa, Edited by DunnS.MorganV.. New York: Palgrave Macmilan.
32.
LederachJohn Paul. 1997. Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press.
33.
LederachJohn Paul. 2001. “Civil Society and Reconciliation.” Pp. 841–854 in Turbulent Peace: The Challenges of Managing International Conflict, edited by CrockerC.HampsonF. O.AallP.. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press.
34.
LederachJohn Paul. 2005. The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
35.
MacGintyRoger. 2006. “Irish Republicanism and the Peace Process: From Revolution to Reform.” Pp. 124–138 in A Farewell to Arms? Beyond the Good Friday Agreement, edited by CoxM.GuelkeA.StephenF.. New York: Manchester University Press.
36.
MacGintyRogerDarbyJohn. 2002. Guns and Governement: The Management of the Northern Ireland Peace Process. New York: Palgrave.
O'BrienConnie. 2007. “Integrated Community Development/Conflict Resolution Strategies as ‘Peace Building Potential’ in South Africa and Northern Ireland.”Community Development Journal42:114–130.
39.
ScholmsMichael. 2003. “Humanitarian NGOs in Peace Operations.” Pp. 40–55 in Mitigating Conflict: The Role of NGOs edited by CareyH.RichmondO.. Portland, OR: Frank Cass.
40.
SenehiJessica. 2000. “Constructive Storytelling in Inter-Communal Conflicts: Building Community, Building Peace.” Pp. 96–114 in Reconcilable Differences: Turning Points in Ethnopolitical Conflict, edited by ByrneS.IrvinC.DixonP.PolkinghornB.SenehiJ.. West Hartford: Kumarian Press.
41.
SenehiJessica. 2002. “Constructive Storytelling: A Peace Process.”Peace and Conflict Studies9:41–63.
42.
SenehiJessica. 2008. “Building peace: Storytelling to transform conflicts constructively.” Pp. 397–422 in The Handbook of Conflict Analysis and Resolution, edited by ByrneS.SandoleD.Staroste-SandoleI.SenehiJ.. London: Routledge.
43.
ShirlowPeter. 2006. “Segregation, ethno-sectarianism and the ‘new’ Belfast.” in A Farewell to Arms? Beyond the Good Friday Agreement, edited by CoxM.GuelkeA.StephenF.. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
44.
StedmanStephen. 2001. “International implementation of peace agreements in civil wars: Findings from a study of sixteen cases.” Pp. 737–752 in Turbulent Peace: The Challenges of Managing International Conflict, edited by CrockerC.HampsonF. O.AallP.. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace Press.
45.
StephenFiona. 2006. “Integrated Schools: Myths, Hopes, and Prospects.” Pp. 268–279 in A Farewell to Arms? Beyond the Good Friday Agreement, edited by CoxM.GuelkeA.StephenF.. New York: Manchester University Press.
46.
TajfelHenri. 1982. “Social identity and intergroup relations.” Pp. xv, 528 p. in European Studies in Social Psychology. New York: Cambridge University Press.
47.
TaylorRupert. 2001. “Northern Ireland: Consociation or social transformation?” Pp. 36–52 in Northern Ireland and the Divided World: The Northern Ireland Conflict and the Good Friday Agreement in Comparative Perspective, edited by McGarryJ.. New York: Oxford University Press.
48.
TaylorRupert2004. Creating a Better World: Interpreting Global Civil Society. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press.
49.
ThiessenChuck. 2008. Exploring NGO Educational Project Work: Working Towards the Healing of Afghanistan And Other Conflict-Affected Nations. Saarbrucken: VDM Verlag Dr. Muller.
50.
WallachJohn. 2000. The Enemy Has a Face: The Seeds of Peace Experience. Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace.
