ABSTRACT
The normative idea of conflict resolution invokes particular pejorative understandings of conflict as a political ‘problem’ which needs to be dealt with (Finlayson 2006). This chapter examines the ways in which the problematisation of conflict affects political narratives; it also critiques the relationship between the ensuing discourses and the political realities of complex societies. The argument takes Northern Ireland as an example of this social and political complexity and contends that discourses of resolution are particularly difficult to apply in this case. Instead there may be greater utility in conceiving conflict as a phenomenon to be managed and transformed rather than resolved. While this correlates with agonistic conceptions of conflict management, the chapter contends that even these agonistic models still involve normative assumptions about the ‘problem’ of conflict that structure political discourse accordingly. This structuring of political discourse encourages closure and decontestation around conflictual narratives, putting them at risk of marginalisation even where their expression remains pivotal to the social and political dynamics of complex conflictual societies.
