The Northern Ireland Peace Process

Government without agreement

The most common mistake in this topic is to treat the peace process as the moment a disagreement was settled. It was not. People in Northern Ireland continue to disagree, deeply and in good faith, about the constitutional future. What the Agreement of 1998 did was different and more interesting: it built institutions designed to let government function while that disagreement continues, rather than waiting for it to be resolved. Every provision in this topic makes sense once you ask what problem it was designed to solve. That is also the question the exam asks.

Words the settlement runs on

Six terms that carry this whole topic. Each names a mechanism rather than a position.

Each provision, and its problem

What power sharing means in practice

Under the arrangements set up in 1998, how is the executive formed?

• Posts are allocated so that both communities are represented in government together
• The largest party forms a government and the others form an opposition to it
• Ministers are appointed from Westminster to hold the posts on a neutral basis
• Each party takes a turn holding every post for a fixed period of months

Settled and left open

A settlement can only close the questions it is able to close. Reading the Agreement this way explains both why it held and why more agreements were needed after it.

What cross-community voting prevents

Some Assembly decisions require support across both communities rather than a simple majority. Select the TWO things this rule is designed to do.

• Stop a decision being carried by one community alone against the other
• Give each community confidence that key decisions cannot be imposed on it
• Make decisions faster by reducing the number of votes that are needed
• Transfer difficult decisions to Westminster when agreement cannot be reached

The parts that stay contested

Two provisions of the 1998 package were argued over at the time and are still argued over. The early release of prisoners was included as part of a negotiated settlement, on the argument that a lasting agreement required the political parties connected to those groups to be inside the process rather than outside it. Many people, including many victims and their families, found and still find it very hard to accept. Decommissioning was intended to put weapons beyond use so that argument moved entirely into politics; some held that it came too slowly to build trust, others that the timetable was what made agreement possible at all. In an exam answer, state what each provision was for and note plainly that it was contested. Do not tell the marker who was right.

The agreements in order

Four agreements make up the sequence this topic covers. Put them in the order they were reached.

• The Good Friday Agreement, which set up the power-sharing institutions
• The St Andrews Agreement, which provided the basis for restoring devolved government
• The Hillsborough Castle Agreement, which dealt with policing and justice powers
• The Stormont House Agreement, which addressed finance, institutions and the past

Which agreement did what

Two commissions, two jobs

Rights in Northern Ireland are safeguarded partly by two bodies with different remits. The Equality Commission works to promote equality of _____ and to tackle unlawful _____ in areas such as work, housing and services. The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission promotes and protects human _____, advises government on whether proposed laws meet those standards, and can _____ people bringing a case. Neither body belongs to any party, which is what allows both communities to bring a _____ to them.

Who would you go to?

Someone believes they were turned down for a job because of their religious background. Which body is the one set up to deal with that kind of complaint?

• The Equality Commission, because it deals with unlawful discrimination at work
• The Human Rights Commission, because employment is a basic human right
• The Assembly, because members are elected to raise matters like this one
• The police service, because refusing someone a job is a criminal matter

What still divides

The specification names ongoing challenges to peace. Select the TWO it identifies.

• How the events of the past should be dealt with
• Divisive questions of symbol and public space, such as flags and parades
• Whether Northern Ireland should adopt the euro as its currency
• How many members the Assembly should have in each constituency

Why 1998 was not the end

Question: explain why further agreements were needed after 1998. Model answer: the 1998 Agreement created the institutions but could not by itself guarantee that they would keep working. Devolved government was suspended, and the St Andrews Agreement provided the basis on which it was restored, including arrangements on policing that allowed all parties to support the new institutions. Some powers had deliberately been left at Westminster because agreement on them was not yet possible, and the Hillsborough Castle Agreement settled the transfer of policing and justice. The Stormont House Agreement then addressed finance, the working of the institutions, and proposals for dealing with the past, an area the earlier agreements had not resolved. Each later agreement therefore dealt with something the first had either left open or been unable to sustain, which is why the peace process is better understood as a sequence than as a single event. Note what this answer does not do. It does not say any party was to blame for a suspension, and it does not judge whether the outcomes were right.

Explaining, not judging

In an extended answer on this topic the marks are for explaining mechanisms, not for taking a side. Select the ONE sentence below that judges rather than explains.

• The cross-community vote requires support from both communities before a decision passes.
• Unionists argued that decommissioning had to come before their full participation.
• Anyone who defended the early release of prisoners was clearly not thinking of the victims.
• Nationalists argued that policing had to be reformed before it could command support.

Reading a provision

You are given short descriptions of provisions and asked what each one rests on. Work through them as an analyst would.

• A provision states that the constitutional status of Northern Ireland can change only if a majority of people there wish it. Which principle is this?
• A rule requires that certain Assembly decisions carry support from both communities. What problem is this designed to solve?
• A later agreement transfers policing and justice powers to the Assembly. Why was this not simply done in 1998?
• An exam question asks you to evaluate how far the peace process has succeeded. What does a strong answer do?

Write about the mechanism

Explain how the institutions set up by the Good Friday Agreement were designed to allow government to continue in a divided society, and assess how far the questions it left open have since been addressed.

• Explain what power sharing is, and the problem it was designed to solve
• Explain the principle of consent, and why both communities needed it in the settlement
• Name one provision that was contested, say what it was for, and say plainly that it was contested without judging it
• Explain what one later agreement added, and what earlier gap it was addressing
• State what the Equality Commission and the Human Rights Commission each do
• Say which questions remain open, and give the competing views on one of them side by side