Using the case of a deeply divided society (Northern Ireland) in the aftermath of a major peace accord, this article combines two methodological approaches to assess the public reception of the peace accord and its impact on intergroup competition. The social psychological concept of esteem (central to social identity theory) and time-series data are used to assess intergroup relations between Protestant-unionists and Catholic-nationalists in Northern Ireland in the wake of the 1998 peace accord. By illustrating the disparity of esteem between the two main politico-religious groups, the article indicates early settlement weakness. Moreover, it suggests a conceptual approach that may be applicable to the study of intergroup competitions in other divided societies.This article draws on the social psychological concept of esteem to explain unionist and nationalist reactions and political behaviour in the aftermath of the 1998 Belfast Agreement in Northern Ireland. It uses time-series survey data to investigate the extent to which the architects' hopes for the Agreement have been realized. The chief architects of the Agreement were the British and Irish governments who attempted to equalize "relative group status" (Horowitz, 2001) between the stake-holding communities: Protestant-unionist and Catholic-nationalist. It was hoped that a complex set of constitutional amendments, legal guarantees, security sector reforms, symbolic gestures, and new governing institutions could address the grievances and aspirations of both the main groups in a balanced manner. In other words, it was hoped that there would be a rough equivalence of gains and concessions for both sides. Moreover, it was hoped that the Belfast

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The presence of civil society is widely recognized as a crucially important component of the foundation of stable democracy. Divided societies can be expected to be lacking in this attribute. Yet claims have been made for the existence of a civil society in South Africa, which is usually typified as a leading example of a deeply divided society. The importance of this claim for the consolidation of democracy lies in the fact that negotiators were able to converge on a new set of constitutional rules of the game, to hold a founding election, and to establish a Government of National Unity to replace the apartheid state and regime. The question is whether these steps toward securing democracy after apartheid are buttressed by the presence of a civil society or are taken in its absence. If the latter applies, then the immediate task of the new government will have to be both to democratize the state and regime and to civilize society. This article addresses this question by reporting on data that bear on the attitudes of elites to the state and to a wide variety of civic bodies in South Africa.

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