ABSTRACT
This chapter examines victims' social movements in divided societies. It focuses on the consequences of power sharing on the mobilization of victims' social movements in Northern Ireland and Lebanon. In Northern Ireland, the peace accord and power sharing are rooted in a minority rights regime. Lebanese victims' movements remind the wider society that the legacy of the civil war continues to poison intercommunal relationships and breeds a culture of sectarian intolerance and distrust. Victims' movements are also significant agents of peace building; their call for ethnic political leaders to be accountable for their wartime actions dramatizes the fact that sustainable peace cannot be constructed on a culture of impunity. An important place to begin understanding victimhood and peace building in divided societies is with consociational power sharing. In Northern Ireland, the liberal power sharing form opened up space for victims' rights and resources.
