ABSTRACT
Consider the Northern Ireland conflict in March 1988. Elsewhere in Northern Ireland that month, an Irish Republican Army (IRA) member was killed in a gun battle with the British Army, a policeman was shot dead by the IRA, and a Protestant civilian was murdered by the IRA. This chapter explains the evolution of the Northern Ireland peace process and discusses the main actors, processes, and incidents that facilitated the transition to a lower level of violence. It deals with a conflict analysis that sets out the 'who, where, how, and why' of the conflict. The chapter describes the armed actors, their motivations, methods, and role in the peace process, before giving an account and analysis of the peace process that began in the early 1990s. The chapter focuses on the negotiation of the Good Friday Agreement and the immediate implementation period. Since reaching the Good Friday Agreement have been turbulent, with a number of long-lasting collapses of the power-sharing Assembly.
