Conflict in N Ireland

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Conflict (resolution) in Northern Ireland’ explores the communal cultures underpinning nationalist and unionist politics in Ulster; examines the dynamics of political violence and terrorism in modern Ireland; and evaluates the international influences on the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, from the political mediation of the United States to South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The course will investigate contemporary terrorist campaigns and political agreements in the Middle East, Europe, North Africa, and Latin America, offering an international assessment of the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Emerging from my European Union-funded ‘Peace Process: layers of meaning’ project, students will have access to unique heritage interviews on the Northern Ireland Troubles, opening the study of conflict resolution in Northern Ireland to new sources of inquiry. What local/national/international factors framed violence in Ulster as an ‘intractable conflict’? How can religion moderate communal understandings of a ‘just society’ in Northern Ireland? How has ‘treaty consciousness’ informed strategies for peacebuilding after Brexit? Students will participate in unique Q&A sessions with policymakers from Dublin, London, and Belfast during this course.