Abandoning historical conflict?

Former political prisoners and reconciliation in Northern Ireland

By (author) Peter Shirlow, Jon Tonge, James W. McAuley, Catherine McGlynn

Publication date:

01 July 2010

Length of book:

208 pages

Publisher

Manchester University Press

Dimensions:

234x156mm

ISBN-13: 9780719080111

Drawing on over 150 interviews with former IRA, INLA, UVF and UFF prisoners, this is a major analysis of why Northern Ireland has seen a transition from war to peace. Most accounts of the peace process are ‘top-down’, relying upon the views of political elites. This book is ‘bottom-up’, analysing the voices of those who actually ‘fought the war’. What made them fight, why did they stop and what are the lessons for other conflict zones?

Based on a Leverhulme Trust project and written by an expert team, the book offers a new analysis, based on subtle interplays of military, political, economic and personal changes and experiences. Combined, these allowed combatants to move from violence to peace whilst retaining core ideological beliefs and maintaining long-term constitutional visions.

Introduction
1. Politically motivated prisoners in Northern Ireland
2. Former prisoners in a global context
3. Political views and understandings
4. Imprisonment, ideological development and change
5. Political and tactical change among former prisoners
6. Conflict transformation and perceptions of the ‘other’
7. Former prisoners and societal reconstruction
Conclusion
Bibliography

The book focuses on the role of former Northern Ireland republican and loyalist prisoners in conflict transformation and the significance of the repudiation or maintenance of the prisoners' previously held views. Shirlow et al.'s findings greatly complement the work in terrorism studies in so far as they advance the debate. Shirlow et al. convincingly show that ideological considerations are virtually irrelevant in disengagement.