Northern Ireland: Is the Peace Process Really Under Threat?
Following in the wake of the Brexit vote when a majority of Northern Ireland electors voted to remain after the DUP had campaigned for leaving the EU, it really did seem that the hardline unionist party was gradually losing its grip on local politics. The prospect of a united Ireland was immediately...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre de Recherche et d'Etudes en Civilisation Britannique
2018-09-01
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| Series: | Revue Française de Civilisation Britannique |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/rfcb/1997 |
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| Summary: | Following in the wake of the Brexit vote when a majority of Northern Ireland electors voted to remain after the DUP had campaigned for leaving the EU, it really did seem that the hardline unionist party was gradually losing its grip on local politics. The prospect of a united Ireland was immediately seized upon by Sinn Féin as a way to solve the border issue created by the Brexit vote. Then Theresa May unexpectedly decided to call for a snap general election on 8th June. Once again, Sinn Féin and the DUP increased their share of the vote. But the DUP reversed its gradual loss of influence while suddenly becoming central to British politics when it brokered a deal with the Prime Minister. The dominant view in the British and international media was then that the deal put the Northern Ireland peace process at risk. The point of this paper is to question this assumption which seems to imply that simply because Sinn Féin does not get its way, the IRA will revert back to an armed campaign. The question would rather be whether the IRA is still in a capacity to do so. It may also be argued that the increased feeling of insecurity among the loyalist community represents an equal threat to the stability of the region. At the same time, we will explore all the apparent paradoxes revealed by the Northern Ireland elections since June 2016. |
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| ISSN: | 0248-9015 2429-4373 |