Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines social movements in violently divided societies and their role in peace building. It explores contemporary social movements in Beirut and Belfast that make the city centre a core site of protest and contestation. These social movements, such as the trash protests in Beirut, are nonsectarian and nurture forms of politics and social relationships, refusing to simply correspond to the neat binaries of ethnic division. The book also examines the contribution of nonsectarian social movements to peace building in two violently divided societies, Lebanon and Northern Ireland. One particular sign of contestation is nonsectarian social movements: groups that mobilize on issues that rise above ethnic divisions to promote plural identities and alternative forms of political thinking outside of ethnic communalism. In Northern Ireland, the regime of minority rights has allowed activists opportunities to claim equal rights.