The politics of post-conflict space: the mysterious case of missing graffiti in ‘post-troubles’ Northern Ireland

Why is there so little graffiti in Northern Ireland compared to cities in North America and Europe – including Great Britain, to which it is constitutionally connected, and Ireland, with which it is geographically connected? This question is particularly perplexing given the highly developed political mural tradition on both sides of the sectarian divide in the North, and the almost 15 years that have passed since the signing of the Peace Agreement ending some three decades of militarized conflict. This paper explores the connections between the absence of graffiti, and the street-level structures and processes of reconciliation or conflict – with a specific focus on the geopolitics of paramilitary control within communities throughout Northern Ireland. The contributions of the paper are three-fold: (1) it highlights the importance of graffiti as a (usually neglected) lens for assessing the degree to which the expected benefits of a peace agreement are experienced at the street level; (2) it addresses the methodological challenge of how to examine something that is not there (specifically, it studies the absence of graffiti in Northern Ireland by comparing it to the logic, mechanics and meanings of graffiti elsewhere); and (3) it questions the well-marketed representation of Northern Ireland as a unqualified case of successful post-agreement peace.     

Mao Zedond’s Xunwu Country Report of 1930: A Long-lost Document from a Critical Year in Jiangxi Reappears

From 1922 to 1927, an alliance between the Guomindang (GMD) and the Soviet Communists advanced a mass-media campaign aimed at wresting control from a regime dominated by warlords and unifying the Chinese nation. Soviet-inspired propaganda posters then flourished during the Northern Expedition as a novel approach to engage with the masses and facilitate the state's policy. By analyzing the symbolic expressions in these political images, this paper examines the differences and similarities between the earlier printed political images and later propaganda posters and argues that both the GMD and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) regimes relied on propaganda networks and personality cults in order to maintain power. In the aftermath of the Qing dynasty, China endured instability and turmoil as warlords and political factions predominated. By the time of the Northern Expedition, the leaders of the GMD and CCP had become convinced that only rigid party organization with military discipline could achieve the goal of national unity.     

The Legacy of the Northern Way?

Abstract

The Northern Way (NW) was a pan-regional, multi-level initiative between three English northern regions, set up to promote economic growth and close a £30 billion output gap. Some limited research on progress prior to 2006 exists, but hardly anything about achievements between 2008 and closure in 2011. This paper redresses the limitations with data from existing evaluations and key stakeholder interviews. Findings reveal that partners developed good collaborative working, gathered robust data on critical economic and social issues, and learnt much during 2004–2008. Between 2008 and 2011, activities were refocused on a narrower set of critical priorities and partners developed real policy learning and became a credible voice for the Northern regions. After closure, it became evident that NW left a ‘vacuum’ as an effective coordinator of evidence and views from three Northern regions. Many issues that it sought to address remain as critical today as they did when it was created.     

Belfast beyond Violence: Flagging up a Challenge to Local Government?

Abstract

Northern Ireland is emerging from violence but still living with conflict. The recent flags protests in Belfast represent a challenge to public administration to transcend the contested politics of local government in Northern Ireland and to navigate a way through a symbolic legacy issue. This article draws on a longitudinal hermeneutic analysis of empirical research conducted on Northern Ireland local government over a decade, where these concerns dominated much debate. Additional analysis of the research findings reveals broader problems applicable to any public administration faced with managing situations in which good governance in public participation and procedural correctness operates alongside fundamental political disagreement and distrust. These conclusions are particularly pertinent for local administrations in societies transitioning from conflict.     

Problems in applying counterterrorism to prevent terrorism: Two decades of violence in Northern Ireland reconsidered

The terrorism of 9/11 elicited a range of different reactions from around the world, including the sentiment that 9/11 was just deserts for America's presence abroad as an unwelcome, overweening world policeman. To help determine the prevalence of this perspective, the authors surveyed a sample of 335 well-educated, English speaking Sri Lankans. Most respondents (73%) thought that the United States brought the 9/11 attack on itself. Reasons for this view included the United States's unilateralism as the only superpower, its involvement in other countries' affairs for its own benefit, and its support for Jews in Israel at the expense of Muslims. Yet the sample's overwhelming sympathy for the U.S. after 9/11 (83%) and to a lesser extent, its anger (52%), as well as agreement regarding the need to punish those who planned and carried out the attack (91%) indicate ambivalence towards the U.S. Implications for how the U.S. should address anti-American attitudes are discussed.‐     

Unforeseen and Unaccounted: the European Union,the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland,peacebuilding, and accountability

This article examines the case of the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland's (CFNI) experience as a primary recipient of peacebuilding aid from the European Union (EU) under the Special EU Programmes Body Special Support Programme for Peace and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland (SEUPB-EUSSPPR). The case serves as a lens into the tensions that such efforts create for community-based organizations as they seek both to honor their funder's accountability claims and their own needs to ensure legitimacy and efficacy with those with whom they interact so as to secure space and discretion to seek to catalyze social experimentation and learning. This paper argues the Foundation's experience and frustrations with EU accountability claims point up a difficulty with the SEUPB's comprehensive conceptualization of peacebuilding: It tends in practice to favor Union-prescribed aims and objectives over those its ‘partners’ derive from their daily efforts.     

Economic Aid: The End of Phase II and the Impact on Sustainable Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland

Abstract

Economic aid has been a critical component of the peace process in Northern Ireland allowing for community-based interventions, employment, social inclusion and regional stability. With the second round of funding coming to a close this essay explores the thoughts and perceptions of civil servants, fund administrators and community group leaders in Derry, Belfast and the Border Area to consider peoples reflections on the outcome of funding, concerns for the future once funding ends, what vital work is still needed and what strategies exist to continue the work of peace after the cessation of Phase II.     

Government with a Cast of Dozens: Policy Capacity Risks and Policy Work in the Northern Territory

There are a number challenges to maintaining high‐quality policy capacity in sparsely populated areas such as Australia's Northern Territory (e.g. natural resource dependent economy, prominence of Indigenous issues, provision of local services). Moreover, the Territory government has recently been undergoing a host of public sector changes. This paper utilises survey methodologies of policy workers that were recently developed in Canada and examines nine risk factors to policy work. A survey of 119 policy workers in the Northern Territory was conducted in 2013. The analysis examined four key policy‐work areas (policy activities, barriers, areas for improved policy capacity, nature of change in work environment). The survey findings offer some practical insights for managers. Formal policy‐work training is recognised as critical. Policy capacity may be increased through better inter‐departmental (and potentially inter‐governmental) cooperation and information sharing, more opportunities to engage with non‐governmental stakeholders, and more opportunities for those leaving the full‐time Northern Territory policy workforce to continue to contribute. From a conceptual point of view, the extent to which ‘policy capacity’ as commonly conceived in the literature is applicable to contexts, such as Australia's Northern Territory, warrants further examination.     

How ‘terrorism’ does not end: the case of the Official Irish Republican Army

This paper is the first critical analysis of terrorism disengagement by the Official Irish Republican Army (OIRA). This process was conducted in instalments over nearly three decades. It has not been theoretically assessed as far as studies on ‘how terrorism ends’ are concerned, and it does not fit into any existing models of terrorism disengagement. The end of terrorism in relation to the OIRA is not only the story of a terrorist organisation ending its armed activities, but also a case study of terrorism disengagement with important policy implications for decision-makers faced with the threat of terrorism.     

The Coercive Weight of the Past: Temporal Dependence and the Conflict-Repression Nexus in the Northern Ireland “Troubles”

After 40 years, we still know very little about how state repression influences political dissent. In fact, to date, every possible relationship, including no influence, has been found. We argue that part of the problem concerns the current practice of treating every repressive event as if it were substantively equivalent, differentiated only by scope (large/small) or type (violent/nonviolent). We advance existing work by arguing that the influence of repression is contingent on when it occurs within the temporal sequences of political conflict. Using new events data on the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland from 1968 to 1974, results show that when dissent has been decreasing in the recent past, repressive action inspires an increase in dissident action. When dissent has been increasing, however, repression has the opposite effect, decreasing challenging activity. These results provide important insights into resolving a recurrent puzzle within the conflict-repression nexus as well as understanding the interaction between government and dissident behavior.