Northern Ireland: 20 Years After the Cease-Fires

In the closing months of 1994, the principal paramilitary organizations in Northern Ireland declared that their campaigns of violence were at an end. The cease-fires called by republican and loyalist groupings represented the most significant heralds of a complex process of conflict transformation that continues to unfold even twenty years on. In this introduction, we set out to map the key developments that have shaped the tortuous narrative of the Northern Irish ‘peace process’, thereby providing the historical backdrop for the articles that follow. While remarkable progress has been made over the two decades since the paramilitary cease-fires, the political context and future of the region remain rather more fraught than is often assumed abroad. It is perhaps best, then, to speak of the six counties in terms not of resolution but rather of ambiguity. Twenty years on from the optimism that greeted the paramilitary cease-fires, Northern Ireland retains the essential ‘inbetweenness’ of a political space that has moved from a ‘long war’ through a ‘long peace’ and into a profoundly undecided future.     

Ian Paisley and the Reformed Tradition

This article examines the religious beliefs underlying the political ideology of Ulster's fundamentalist politician, Ian Paisley. Paisley claims to follow the Reformation tradition in both his theology and political beliefs, and cannot be understood without reference to this tradition. Adopting an apocalyptic world view from Reformation Protestants such as Knox, Paisley views the Roman Catholic Church as the Harlot of Babylon condemned in Revelation, and this belief underlies his anti-Catholicism. This world view shapes Paisley's understanding of politics because he follows Knox in believing that the political community has a covenantal relationship to God requiring complete repudiation of Roman Catholic 'idolatry'. Paisley invokes the Scottish covenanting tradition as a model for Protestant political activity in Ulster, advocating resistance against any attempt to show political favour to the Roman Catholic Church.