ABSTRACT
The peace process in Northern Ireland has achieved a power-sharing democracy and strengthening of human rights and equality. The Northern Irish state has demonstrated its ability to manage political conflict and violence but it is limited in its potential to transform conflict in intercultural settings. The research in South Belfast and in other Loyalist areas has demonstrated that the principles of restorative justice can contribute to the security and justice experienced by local communities affected by conflicts in intercultural settings. Community and identity are concepts, which hardly mean in the daily lives of people unless they are activated. If these concepts are used in Northern Ireland to mobilize a form of politics based upon shared identity, they can sustain frontiers in society, which divide people and result in violent conflict. Action research has found evidence that restorative justice can contribute to building a pluralist society at peace with itself and in which identity is not a source of harmful conflict.
