A farewell to arms Beyond the Good Friday agreement [Paperback]

The signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 appeared to open up a new phase in the history of Northern Ireland and indeed world politics generally. Hailed from the outset as a model that would inspire peace processes in other countries, it sought through careful negotiation and delicate compromise to bring to a conclusion a conflict that had cost over 3600 lives, damaged Britain's international position and at times come very close to undermining relations between the UK and Ireland. While the peace has held it is obvious that serious divisions continue to make a final settlement of the Northern Irish question very difficult.

This comprehensive and original study is the first to explain in detail how the Good Friday Agreement ran into trouble, why we are still some way from a final settlement, but why a return to war is most unlikely - even in an age where global terror now threatens world order more seriously than at any time in the past.

This new edition of an established, authoritative text will be essential reading for students, researchers and academics of Irish politics, conflict and peace studies, and international relations.

Introduction: A farewell to arms? Beyond the Good Friday Agreement - Michael Cox, Adrian Guelke, and Fiona Stephen

PART ONE. From 'Long War' to long peace

1. Lost lives: Victims and the construction of victimhood' in Northern Ireland - Marie Smyth

2. The background to the Irish peace process - Martin Mansergh

3. From war to uneasy peace in Northern Ireland - Caroline Kennedy-Pipe

4. Myths of consociationalism: From Good Friday to political impasse - Paul Bew

PART TWO. The politics of the Good Friday Agreement

5. Polarisation or new moderation? Party politics since the Good Friday Agreement - Jon Tonge

6. The 1998 Agreement: Three unionist anxieties - Arthur Aughey

7. The SDLP- governing with uncertainty - Sean Farren

8. Irish republicanism andlS™