Good friday agreement The ulster unionist party(Uup)And the social demoratic and
labour party(Sdlp)Developed working realtionships where they gathered in tense,
late night sessions to discuss unionist and nationalist differences.In addition
to the two governements, all major political parties and parties representing
the main paramilitary organizations began meeting in september 1997.1 After many
months a breakthrough was made.The uup and sdlp came to an agreement after 48
hours of non-Stop negotiations in belfast on the morning of friday, april 10,
1998.This came to be known as the good friday agreement or the belfast
agreement.23 Bertie ahern with tony blair signing the good friday agreement in
april 1998 As the parties addressed conflict resolution, they had to keep
diversity in mind.They used a form of interdependency called"Superordinate
goals"Which is when both groups must cooperate in order to achieve what they
both need.They also had to make contact with members of the out-Group, which
helped reduce the problem of tension and violence between the two groups.In
order to work toward reconciliation, the members of each party had to learn from
their experience and learn the experience of the other in order to reach an
agreement that would be suitable for all parties involved.4 The Good Friday
Agreement used the term that Mcnair refers to as Public Policy:Diplomacy which
is when a third party facilator helps see that acceptable outcomes evolve
through the meetings.This helped resolve problems between the nationalists and
loyalists because there was no level of trust between the two sides.The
negotiaters helped build confidence as all major political parties contributed
to the good friday agreement.5 The good friday agreement is a 65-Page document
which was provided as the new basis on which northern ireland politics and anglo
irish relations would be conducted in the future.In addition, there would be a
power-Sharing assembly within the parties which would allocate chairs and vice
chairs on an agreed basis.This would make a clear consensus necessary for
agreement on issues of relevance to both communities.6 The Good Friday Agreement
provided a closely interlocking system designed to take into account political
relationships within Northern Ireland, between the north and south, and between
Britain and Ireland.7 In the agreement the citizens of northern ireland would
determine the constitutional future of northern ireland.Citizens would have the
right to decide whether they wanted a british identity, an irish identity, or
both, and would hold passports with each identity.8 The agreement addressed the
republican preoccupation with self-Determination.A consent requiring the
citizens of northern ireland to decide whether it stayed with britain or joined
the united ireland.It provided the rewriting of articles 2 and 3 of the irish
constitution, which worked to remove what unionist regarded as the objectionable
claim to the northern ireland territory.9 The agreement set up the northern
ireland assembly.This consisted of108-Members who are elected by proportional
representation, and ministers to excecutive who are appointed according to their
party's strengths.Westminster would delegate full power over areas such as
education, health and agriculture and including the right to make new
laws.London would still retain responsibility for matters such as defence and
law and order.London promised to consider transferring security powers at a
later stage.10 Issues addressed in the agreement were;1)Setting up an equality
commission and a human rights commission.2)The development of social, economic,
and cultural inclusion policies.3)Recognize the needs of victims 4)The
acceleration of paramilitary prisoner release.5)The normalization of security
arrangements as the threat of violence diminished.6)The setting up of
independent commissions for the criminal justice system and the police.11 The
north-South ministerial conference(Nsmc)Was set up to bring northern ireland
executive and irish government to oversee the work of six cross-Border
implementation bodies.The12 british-Irish inter-Government conference was
established to promote bilaterial cooperation between the uk and ireland.This
replaced the anglo-Irish inter-Government council.13 The three strands of
Northern Ireland Assembly, North-South ministerial conference, and british-Irish
inter-Government conference are inter-Connected to provide checks and balances
between the groups. The new government was to consist of a first minister, a
unionist, and a deputy first minister, a nationalist.Beneath them were to be ten
departmental ministers who would be allocated in proportion to the strength of
the party, according to an agreed on mathmatical formula.The assembly's rules
ensure important decisions must be taken on a cross-Community basis, which meant
they needed the support of both unionist and nationalist members in order to
take effect.14 The controversial decommissioning issue was resolved with all
parties confirming their intention to achieve the decommisioning of all
paramilaitary arms within two years.The decommissioning section was very Tomsawyers online mens ski black jackets
gore-tex vague and open to different interpretations.Brendan o'leary
argued the document offered equal ligitimacy to both parties.The subtlest part
of the agreement was a"Tacit double protection"Which protected rights of the
nationalists and the same rights for the unionists in what is hoped to be a
united ireland.15 The republican community did not take long to agree to the
document, but the unionist party had deep division between the uup.Trimble
accepted the agreement, which was a huge step since a large proportion of the
unionist community was against making a deal with nationalist or
republicans.Trimble was attacked daily by some unionists for selling out the
union.16 The north and south held simultaneous referendums on may 22 to give
approval to the good friday agreement.Catholics were well over 90 percent in
favor, but the protestant community was split down the middle, with around half
unionist voting 'yes' and half voting 'no.' The Good Friday Agreement was passed
as the majority of Unionist voted yes to the agreement.17 Following this
decisioin significant tensions created a division.Those in favor of the
agreement came to be known as the 'yes' camp and those against the agreement
became known as the 'no' camp.In response to this division, a bomb exploded in
the market town of omagh in country tyrone in august of 1998.The bomb killed 29
people, including both protestants and catholics.This attack had a sobering
affect on political leaders.In september 1998, the leader of the uup and first
minister, david trimble met gerry adams, the leader of sinn fein.After this
meeting various aspects of the agreement began to be implemented.18A new era was
about to start in Ireland as the following quote from the newspaper states. It
offers the chance to settle disagreements by argument instead of by force.It is
not perfect;It will not simply dissolve away the ancient problems;It will face
many hurdles and stiff challenges.But it has allowed all the main paramilitary
groups, and nearly all the politicians, to subscribe to an agreement which is
nobodys's ideal but almost eveyone's acceptable second choice.It doesn't mean
the big paramilitary groupings disbanding and handing in their weaponry, for
paramilitarism is a symptom of mistrust and that still abounds.But it does mean
that the people of ireland have spoken, and they have spoken of an end to
violence.This is an enormous advance, for not too long ago the widely held
assumption was that northern ireland was fated to be locked forever in endless
war.That cheerless belief has now been replaced by the sense that the agreement
amounts to the terms for an honourable peace.20 The good friday agreement
enjoyed overwhelming support from nationalists, who viewed it as a historic
departure based on the principle of inclusion.The new northern Tomsawyers Jackets ireland adminsitration
contains two unionist and two nationalist which was designed to instiutionalize
inclusion.21 The old ratio of two-Thirds protestant and one-Third catholic
disappeared and was been replaced with a new mathematical and political
model.Since the agreement, nationalism has taken dramatic advances in politics
but it is too early to say whether the good friday agreement will create a level
playing field on which the business of politics will be conducted in the future
without resorting to violent conflict.A chapter has been turned and ireland has
made a chance at peace.22 This monument is called"Reaching across the
divide"Which symbolizes cooperation of republican and loyalist communities in
aspiration for peace. The individuals and different organizations that helped
establish the good friday agreement have shared their beliefs and emotions with
both sides.It took courage on both sides in order to work on a peace process to
end the years of violence and come to an agreement.The people of ireland are at
the stage of forgiveness and trying to move into the promising future.Ireland
has also had tolerance for ambiguity, which is the ability to live with
situations that are unclear.24 The future of Ireland is unknown.The good friday
agreement was a turning point for the people of ireland but there are many
obstacles that still need to be faced in order to put the pieces of ireland back
together. The good friday agreement brought about both postive and negative
goals.According to mcnair, negative goals avoid the bad while positive goals
achieve the good.The negative goals involved in the agreement were the
prevention of http://tomsawyers.co.uk/ specific forms
of violence and injustice.The positive goals were making an attempt at building
a peaceful society in ireland.25 Although the good friday agreement has helped
lessen the conflict in many ways, it has helped many avoid dealing with the past
history of ireland.Many are looking forward to the future and never want to
return to the violent past.The people of ireland may not be ready for the truth
of what many political parties were responsible for.This could bring back
painful memories, or increase hostility once new information is gained.Northern
ireland is ready for peace, reconciliation, and unity.
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