Description
Book SynopsisSince the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the image projected of Northern Ireland in the mainstream media is frequently that of a newly prosperous, modern, post-conflict society - a rare example of a successful peace process. Promoted as a great place to live and work, the garden seemed to be getting rosier by the day, that is until the Stormont Assembly collapsed in 2017. Written to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of the GFA, this book argues that the seeds of recent problems were sown in the 1998 agreement. The fiasco of a Renewable Heating Incentive that overpaid participants, the lingering whiff of corruption, communities in crisis and growing poverty are all symptoms of the inherent failings of the supposed settlement. Current difficulties are more than teething problems arising from the transition from war to peace and neo-liberalism; they're the first instalment of a deeper crisis in a northern Irish state and society, which has never properly addressed the corrosive nature of sectarianism. Rather than ridding Northern Ireland of sectarianism, neo-liberalism, operating in the absence of armed conflict, has been able to accommodate and, in some instances, create a new form of sectarianism. The GFA has led to a profound democratic deficit. This book focuses on the nature of the North's new sectarian political class who are the principal beneficiaries of the GFA, but attention is also drawn to the labour movement, the plight of precarious and migrant workers, and the undermining of third sector autonomy. Behind the latter is the continuing suffering within communities still impacted by the long period of armed conflict and the evolution of republicanism and Unionism-Loyalism.
Table of ContentsPrologue 3 Introduction 7 Chapter 1 - Sectarianism and Neo-Liberalism: The New Democratic Deficit 33 Chapter 2 - The Global Economy and the North of Ireland: Neo-Liberalism at Home 45 Chapter 3 - Unionism-Loyalism and the New Sectarian State 69 Chapter 4 - Northern Ireland: The Failed State 98 Chapter 5 - The Role of the "Third Sector" in Neo-Liberal Northern Ireland 124 Chapter 6 - On the Psychology of War and Conflict in the North 139 Chapter 7 - Trade Unionism in the North 150 Conclusion 163 Postscript - The Assembly Collapses 2017: The Final Curtain? 176 Bibliography 185 Acknowledgements 204 About the Authors 206
