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In contemporary Northern Ireland, more than two decades after the peace agreement that ended the thirty-year sectarian violence known as "the Troubles," the risk of a return to violent conflict is progressively accumulating in a rising tide and resilience is rapidly receding. From Northern Ireland we can learn what happens when identity politics prevail over democracy, when a paralysis in governance leads to a political vacuum that leaves spaces open for extremist voices to dominate, when de facto social segregation becomes normalized, when acclimatization to violence becomes a generational legacy, and when questions of who we are become secondary to who we are not.
List of contents
- TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Introduction: A Brutal Duality
- Part I - Wounded Identities
- Chapter 1: "You're One or the Other:" Social Identities in Deeply Divided Societies
- Chapter 2: "Two Eyes on the Past:" Northern Ireland's Wounded History
- Part II - Risk and Resilience in Contemporary Northern Ireland
- Understanding Risk and Resilience
- Chapter 3: "Was There Ever A Before?" The Tyranny of Memory
- Chapter 4: "With Deep Regret and Reluctance:" Governance in a Deeply Divided Society
- Chapter 5: "The Walls Entered Into Our Souls:" Social Fragmentation in Everyday Life
- Part III - A Troubled Sleep
- Chapter 6: "A Farewell to Peace?:" Escalating Risk and Fading Resilience
- Conclusion: "I Hope It Wasn't All a Waste:" Northern Ireland At Its Centenary
- Endmatter
- Index
About the author
James Waller is Cohen Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and chair of that same department, at Keene State College (NH-US). He is the author of five books, most notably Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing and Confronting Evil: Engaging Our Responsibility to Prevent Genocide. Waller has held numerous visiting professorships, most recently as an honorary visiting research professor in the George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Justice and Security at Queen's University in Belfast, Northern Ireland (2017), as well as participating in policymaking and diplomatic efforts to prevent and respond to genocide and violent conflict. In 2017, he was the inaugural recipient of the Engaged Scholarship Prize from the International Association of Genocide Scholars in recognition of his exemplary engagement in advancing genocide awareness and prevention.
Additional text
Waller's work tackles the issue of potentially escalating tensions in Northern Ireland through professional expertise via his background in social psychology. The exploration of issues such as responses to Brexit, paramilitary figures, and historical comparisons perfectly serve as basis for the overarching argument, making A Troubled Sleep well worth the read for anyone interested in post-agreement Northern Ireland.
