The British and Peace in Northern Ireland The Process and Practice of Reaching Agreement

How did the British Government and Civil Service shape the Northern Ireland peace process? What kind of tensions and debates were being played out between the two governments and the various parties in Northern Ireland? Addressing texts, negotiations, dialogues, space, leverage, strategy, ambiguity, interpersonal relations and convergence, this is the first volume to examine how senior British officials and civil servants worked to bring about power-sharing in Northern Ireland. With a unique format featuring self-authored inside accounts and interview testimonies, it considers a spectrum of areas and issues that came into play during the dialogues and negotiations that led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and political accommodation in Northern Ireland. This book provides a compelling insight into what actually happened inside the negotiating room and how the British tried to shape the course of negotiations.

Introduction; 1. The terrain of discourse Sir Kenneth Bloomfield; 2. The Anglo-Irish Agreement: an interview with Sir David Goodall and Lord Armstrong of Ilminster; 3. The constitutional issue in Irish politics David Hill; 4. Negotiations and positions: an interview with Sir John Chilcot; 5. Resolving intercommunal conflict: some enabling factors Sir Quentin Thomas; 6. Tactics, strategy and space Chris Maccabe; 7. The Joint Declaration and memory David Cooke; 8. Movement and transition in 1997: Major to Blair Sir John Holmes; 9. The challenge of symmetry in dialogue: an interview with Sir Joseph Pilling; 10. Why was the Good Friday Agreement so hard to implement? Lessons from Groundhog Day, 1998–2002 Sir Bill Jeffrey; 11. Text and context: an interview with William Fittall; 12. The nature of dialogue: an interview with Sir Jonathan Phillips; 13. Managing the tensions of difference: an interview with Jonathan Powell; Conclusion.

Graham Spencer is Reader in Politics, Conflict and the Media at the University of Portsmouth, Distinguished Senior Research Fellow in the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for Conflict Intervention at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth and Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Politics at the University of Liverpool. His books include From Armed Struggle to Political Struggle: Republican Tradition and Transformation in Northern Ireland (2015), Protestant Identity and Peace in Northern Ireland (2012), The Media and Peace (2008), The State of Loyalism in Northern Ireland (2008), Omagh: Voices of Loss (2005), Ulster Loyalism After the Good Friday Agreement (editor with James W. McAuley, 2011) and Forgiving and Remembering in Northern Ireland (editor, 2011). He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. His research interests include conflict transformation, political negotiation and communication, identities in conflict and reconciliation.