ABSTRACT
Northern Ireland, the section of Ireland within the UK, comprises six counties: Derry, Antrim, Down, Armagh, Fermanagh and Tyrone. The society of Northern Ireland is riven by three fundamental cleavages. The most important is that between Roman Catholics and Protestants. A second division, which closely parallels the first, is between those who support the unification of Ireland and those who wish to remain within the UK. The former group includes the various shades of Republican opinion and the latter the Unionists and the Loyalists. The third cleavage is based on wealth. The Nationalist Volunteer Force, renamed in the early 1920s the Irish Republican Army (IRA), re-emerged in Northern Ireland in 1956 and continuing violence broke out in 1969. Violence continued and the one ray of hope was the Anglo-Irish Agreement signed in November 1985. Most successful attempt at ending the violence came with the signing of the Northern Ireland Multi-party Peace Agreement in April 1998, the Good Friday Agreement.
