Brexit and Northern Ireland

In 1998, after three decades of conflict, lasting peace was achieved in Northern Ireland through an accord variously known as the Good Friday Agreement or the Belfast Agreement. The 25th anniversary of that Agreement comes next month. 

Though there are problems – the institutions of power-sharing government established through the Agreement are currently suspended, and pockets of paramilitary violence remain – the settlement reached a quarter of a century ago has been strikingly successful in its central aim: conflict has not returned; and contestation over Northern Ireland’s constitutional future is now conducted solely by political means. People in Northern Ireland have lived in much greater freedom and security as a result. For most people, life has got much better.

Nevertheless, 30 years of conflict were always going to leave lasting legacies that would take time to heal. And research conducted in part here in UCL is exploring those legacies and comparing them with patterns found in other post-conflict societies around the world. 

This week we are joined by Professor Kristin Bakke and Dr Kit Rickard.

Mentioned in this episode:

• The past, Brexit, and the future in Northern Ireland: a quasi-experiment
• ‘Ten pound touts’: post-conflict trust and the legacy of counterinsurgency in Northern Ireland