ABSTRACT
Derick Wilson: 0000–0002–4168–2082
Hugh Campbell: 0000–0002–1809–8224
This chapter explores the possibilities and limitations of those wishing to promote restorative justice practices underpinning security and justice for all and transform Northern Ireland. In this ethnic frontier, historically pro-British and pro-Irish identities have competed in a space where London and Dublin were at best benign and never prepared to go to war. In many other ethnic frontiers, external powers have often not been so benign. Northern Ireland’s conflict also threatened the wider European project. After a violent conflict, peace in Northern Ireland is based on the premise that there is no ethnically pure peace. Each person, from opposed traditions, still has to live in the midst of the others. In Northern Ireland the 1998 Agreement enabled a series of political actions, policies and initiatives, including opportunities afforded to promote restorative practice approaches, which are examined in the chapter within what John Braithwaite has identified as a ‘politics of hope’ approach. Against the background of addressing historical asymmetries of access to the state and the law and order systems before the conflict, this chapter examines the importance of restorative practices being embedded in wider societal institutions and societal transformation and not restricted, or confined, to the criminal justice system alone.
