Unionists, Loyalists, and Conflict Transformation in Northern IrelandIn Northern Ireland, a once seemingly intractable conflict is in a state of transformation. Lee A. Smithey offers a grassroots view of that transformation, drawing on interviews, documentary evidence, and extensive field research. He offers essential models for how ethnic and communal-based conflicts can shift from violent confrontation toward peaceful co-existence. Smithey focuses particularly on Protestant unionists and loyalists in Northern Ireland, who maintain varying degrees of commitment to the Protestant faith, the Crown, and and Ulster / British identity. He argues that antagonistic collective identities in ethnopolitical conflict can become less polarizing as partisans adopt new conflict strategies and means of expressing identity. Consequently, the close relationship between collective identity and collective action is a crucial element of conflict transformation. Smithey closely examines attempts in Protestant/unionist/loyalist communities and organizations to develop more constructive means of expressing collective identity and pursuing political agendas that can help improve community relations. Key leaders and activists have begun to reframe shared narratives and identities, making possible community support for negotiations, demilitarization, and political cooperation, while also diminishing out-group polarization. As Smithey shows, this kind of shift in strategy and collective vision is the heart of conflict transformation, and the challenges and opportunities faced by grassroots unionists and loyalists in Northern Ireland can prove instructive for other regions of intractable conflict. |
Contents
3 | |
2 Ethnic Identity Change and Conflict Transformation | 25 |
3 Protestant Unionists and Loyalists | 53 |
4 Mitigating Murals and Loyalist Cultural Innovation | 78 |
Mitigating Parades Public Relations and Identity Change | 116 |
6 Heritage Memory and Identity Work | 152 |
7 Strategy Pragmatism and Public Relations | 190 |
8 Conclusion | 225 |
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251 | |
Other editions - View all
Unionists, Loyalists, and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland Lee A. Smithey Limited preview - 2011 |
Unionists, Loyalists, and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland Lee A. Smithey Limited preview - 2011 |
Unionists, Loyalists, and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland Lee A. Smithey No preview available - 2011 |
Common terms and phrases
Anglo-Irish Agreement areas bands become Belfast/Good Friday Agreement bonfires Boyne British Bryan collective identities commemoration community development community relations community worker conflict transformation construction contentious cross-community cultural expressions Cultural Society cultural traditions dialogue displays division East Belfast economic engage ethnic identity flags Friday Agreement funding Grand Lodge Grand Orange Lodge grassroots heritage historical and cultural identify identity change ideology increasingly institution intimidation Jarman Kaufmann Liechty and Clegg loyalism loyalist murals loyalist paramilitaries McAuley memory mitigation murals narratives nationalists negotiated nonviolent Northern Ireland Orange Lodge Orange Order Orangemen parades paramilitary organizations participants peace process percent persuasion polarized political Portadown projects prominent Protestant unionists Protestants and Catholics public relations Republic of Ireland republican rituals sectarian Shankill Road Sinn Féin social capital strategies symbolic themes there’s tion tourism Twelfth Ulster Ulster loyalism Ulster Unionist Party Ulster Volunteer Force Ulster-Scots Ulster-Scots Agency unionism Unionist Party unionists and loyalists violence working-class