Engaging with the Violent Past to Motivate and Direct Conflict Resolution Practice in Northern Ireland

• Published date: 01 December 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21204
• Date: 01 December 2017

C R Q, vol. 35, no. 2, Winter 2017 197

© 2017 Association for Con ict Resolution and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/crq.21204

Engaging with the Violent Past to Motivate

and Direct Con ict Resolution Practice in

Northern Ireland

R achel Rafferty

Collective memories can form a barrier to con ict resolution in societies

a ected by violent con ict. Although engaging with con ict history is an

important aspect of con ict resolution practice, it is not fully understood

how to achieve this in these complex and emotive environments.  is

article presents the case of local grassroots con ict resolution practitio-

ners in Northern Ireland who have developed an alternative narrative

about the violent past that they draw on to motivate and direct their

practice. It provides insights into how con ict resolution practitioners

in intractable con icts can engage with the violent past in ways that

support increased understanding between identity groups.

N orthern Ireland is the site of a long-running social and political con-

 ict that between 1969 and 1998 escalated into sustained and severe

violence. Although violence has greatly deescalated in Northern Ireland

over the last two decades, political enmity and social division continue,

suggesting that the society shares many features common to intractable

con icts (Aiken 2013 ; Mac Ginty, Muldoon, and Ferguson 2007 ). In par-

ticular, opposing collective memories regarding the past violence present a

barrier to a more comprehensive resolution to the con ict (Aiken 2013 ).

In societies a ected by intractable con ict, such as Northern Ireland,

collective memories of the past can do much to prevent con ict resolution

in the present (Arai 2015 ; Bar-Tal 2007 ; Tint 2010 ). Intractable con icts

are long running, di cult to resolve, and often involve a repeated cycle

of violence (Bar-Tal 2007 ).  ese con icts often re ect underlying issues

such as unmet human needs, sacred values, and oppositional group identi-

ties (Azar 1991 ; Burton 1990 ; Kelman 2010 ).  is is often re ected in a

198 RAFFERTY

C R Q • DOI: 10.1002/crq

confrontational political environment where there is little motivation to

compromise or cooperate between groups.

Despite the su ering caused by con ict, shared sociopsychological fea-

tures including collective narratives about the past reduce the willingness

of those living in the society to pursue a peaceful resolution to the con ict

(Bar-Tal 2007 ). In such con icts, the groups involved develop di erent nar-

ratives about the history of the con ict and this provides an additional barrier

to developing a cooperative approach to resolving the con ict (Tint 2010 ).

 ese narratives about the past are often intimately connected to

oppositional understandings of group identity (Bikmen 2013 ; Hammack

2011 ).  ey can be used to justify aggressive actions against opponents of

the group, and questioning these group narratives can be seen as an act

of betrayal by other group members (Bar-Tal 2007 ). Moreover, collective

emotional responses to past violent events in the con ict can cause con ict

resolution processes based on rational discussion to fail (Bar-Tal, Halperin,

and De Rivera 2007 ; Retzinger and Sche 2000 ). How members of the

society understand the past, then, does much to determine whether a reso-

lution to the con ict can be envisioned and achieved.

As a result, attempts at con ict resolution in such societies can be

strengthened by actively engaging with how individuals understand and

interpret the past (Psaltis 2016 ; Tint 2010 ). Dialoguing about the past can

help groups to recognize the existence of di erent narratives, which has

the potential to increase understanding of opponents’ perspectives (Arai

2015 ; Shea 2010 ). In particular, developing shared or inclusive historical

narratives may support con ict resolution and reconciliation (Barton and

McCully 2003 ; Korostelina 2012 ).

However, any attempt to build a shared understanding of the past needs

to avoid marginalizing the counterhistories of oppressed groups (Rolston

2010 ; Wing 2010 ).  ere is also the risk that opening up discussion of the

violent past in societies a ected by intractable con ict can deepen divisions

if not handled sensitively (Bland 2002 ). Engaging with the violent past in

intractable con icts, then, is an aspect of con ict resolution practice that

needs to be carried out with care and with a clear understanding of what

the work is aiming to achieve.

Given that, at present, there is only a limited understanding of how to

engage with the past in ways that will support con ict resolution and rec-

onciliation (Arai 2015 ; Tint 2010 ), there is scope for learning from cases

of successful practice in this area. Con ict resolution practitioners (CRPs)

who live in societies a ected by violent con ict have found creative ways