Path Dependence in Settlement Processes: Explaining Settlement in Northern Ireland

Abstract

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The EU Peace II Fund and the International Fund for Ireland: Nurturing Cross-Community Contact and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland

“…9 "One way that endogenous processes of change can occur is through change in the geopolitical context which at once intensifies ongoing slow processes of change, magnifies their significance and 'guarantees' to the actors in the region that these changes will not easily be reversed." 10 The relatively successful peace process in Northern Ireland lies in the way that leaders of the political parties were able to draw on regional and global resources that provided incentives and safeguards for "a peace process based on de-territorialisation." 11 The structural influence of the European Union (EU) has constructively transformed the context for the definition of conflict in Northern Ireland.…”

History, Structure and Action in the Settlement of Complex Conflicts: The Northern Ireland Case

“…That this was a clear breach in the historical pattern was evident to all. It had radical implications for the calculations of the parties: it meant that the partial equalisation achieved in the 1990s took on added significance, opening the prospect of much more radical structural change in the future (see Ruane and Todd, 2007). …”

Between the devil and the deep blue sea: nationality, power and symbolic trade‐offs among evangelical Protestants in contemporary Northern Ireland1

“…The shift of foci within national identities is of particular importance in cases where settlements of long-standing conflicts are attempted. What happens to national self-conceptions in a case like Northern Ireland, where the power relations between the different ethno-national groups are increasingly equalised, where this is certified symbolically and institutionally by the two 'parent' states, and where radically new institutional opportunities for individual and group advance have emerged (Ruane and Todd, 2007)? Commentators disagree, some emphasising an increasing polarisation and segregation of two ethno-national communities, now represented by the most extreme nationalist parties (since the 2003 elections, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Fe´in have been the largest parties in their respective blocs), others pointing to the significant moderation of policy on the part of those parties (Mitchell et al 2001).…”