ABSTRACT
In the summer of 1993, British government priorities in Northern Ireland shifted from the commitment to promote political talks between the main constitutional parties in Northern Ireland. Talks had been held under the-Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Brooke, in the spring of 1991 and resumed under his successor, Sir Patrick Mayhew, in 1992 but they came to an inconclusive stalemate in November of that year. The purpose of those talks had been consistent with the long-stated political objective of both British and Irish governments to marginalize terrorists and their political advocates, particularly the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and its political wing, Sinn Fein. Political agreement between constitutional groups, it was thought, would provide for the conditions of a lasting peace. The last major initiative in Northern Ireland, the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985, was based explicitly on this policy.
