Description
Book SynopsisThis book develops a novel approach to peace and conflict studies, through an original application of the philosophy of Jacques Derrida to the post-conflict politics of Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Based on new readings of the peace agreements and the post-conflict political systems, the book goes beyond accounts that present a static picture of ‘fixed divisions’ in these cases. By exploring how formal electoral politics and the informal political spheres of artistic, cultural, judicial and protest movements already contest the politics of division, the book argues that the post-conflict political systems in Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina are in a process of deconstruction. The text adds to the Derridean lexicon by developing the idea of a ‘deconstructive conclusion’, which challenges historical understandings of conflicts at the same time as challenging their consequences in the present. The study provides a critical contribution to peacebuilding and International Relations literature, by demonstrating how Derridean concepts can be utilised to provide fresh understandings of conflict and post-conflict situations, as well as allowing for political interventions to be made into these processes.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
Preface
List of Abbreviations
1.Introduction: The Problems of Peace in Northern Ireland and Bosnia and Herzegovina
Part I: Supplementing Conflict
2. Ethno-National Policy Learning: The ‘Two Communities’ Supplement and ‘the troubles’ in Northern Ireland
3. Contradictory Conflict Frames: The ‘Balkans’ Supplement and the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Part II: Deferring Conflict
4. Post-Conflict Northern Ireland: Différance and Devolution
5. Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina: Différance and Ethnic Politics
6. A Deconstructive Conclusion to the Conflicts in Northern Ireland and BiH
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