Northern Irish Political Contention from Sunningdale to the Good Friday Agreement

Syracuse University SURFACE Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects Projects Spring 5-1-2012 The "Troubles:" Northern Irish Political Contention from Sunningdale to the Good Friday Agreement Daniel J. Foley Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone Part of the Comparative Politics Commons, and the Other Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Foley, Daniel J., "The "Troubles:" Northern Irish Political Contention from Sunningdale to the Good Friday Agreement" (2012). Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects. 174. https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/174 This Honors Capstone Project is brought to you for free and open access by the Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Syracuse University Honors Program Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The "Troubles:" Northern Irish Political Contention from Sunningdale to the Good Friday Agreement A Capstone Project Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Renée Crown University Honors Program at Syracuse University Daniel J. Foley Candidate for Bachelor of Arts Degree and Renée Crown University Honors May 2012 Honors Capstone Project in Political Science Capstone Project Advisor: _______________________ Advisor Title & Name Capstone Project Reader: _______________________ Reader Title & Name Honors Director: _______________________ Stephen Kuusisto, Director Date: April 25, 2012 Abstract This paper looks to answer the question: Can the contentious politics thesis of Doug McAdam, Sidney Tarrow, and Charles Tilly explain why the Good Friday Agreement (1998) (GFA) successfully produced a lasting peace in Northern Ireland, when the Sunningdale (1973) and the Anglo-Irish (1985) agreements failed to do so? I set out to study the buildup and aftermath of each agreement and subsequently examine each through the lens of the contentious politics thesis, searching for causal mechanisms and processes that explain the success of the GFA. The purpose of the contentious politics thesis is not to examine various forms of contention (i.e. coups, civil wars, revolutions) one by one and make broad generalizations for each of them. Quite the opposite; the goal is to “identify parallels in the ways that apparently disparate forms of contention work, and show how their differences result from varying combinations and sequences of mechanisms in contrasting regime environments” (Tilly & Tarrow, 2007). In place of the “static, single-actor models (including their own) that have prevailed in the field of contentious politics,” McAdam, Tarrrow, and Tilly identify causal mechanisms and processes that recur across a wide-range of contentious politics and “shift the focus of analysis to dynamic interaction.” The main method I used for this work was researching books and articles written on the subject. This includes primary source documents, in particular the memoirs of people participating in the events discussed and newspaper articles published at the time. The books and articles generally fell into two categories: the historical record and material related to the contentious politics thesis. McAdam, Tilly, and Tarrow’s Dynamics of Contention and Tilly and Tarrow’s Contentious Politics were essential for the identification of the causal mechanisms and processes. Paul Dixon’s Northern Ireland: The Politics of War and Peace provided me with a highly accessible and detailed history of the “Troubles.” With the large amount of information available on Northern Ireland, combined with the works of McAdam, Tilly, and Tarrow, research was the best and most appropriate method for completing my Capstone Project. I argue that the contentious politics thesis furthers our understanding of the triumphs and failures of each agreement and helps explain why it took three decades to broker a lasting peace. As I demonstrate, recognizing the causal mechanisms and processes improves our comprehension of how each agreement came into existence and why the GFA was the only one to experience long-term success. The object shift by the nationalist community, the co-optation of Sinn Féin into the peace talks, and the identity shift by the Republic of Ireland are some examples of the causal mechanisms and processes that distinguished the GFA from Sunningdale and the Anglo-Irish Agreement. I also apply the thesis to the Bosnian War (1992-95) to exemplify how it allows us to identify causal mechanisms and processes in both Bosnia and Northern Ireland and subsequently critically compare the two dissimilar conflicts. Table of Contents Acknowledgments – 1 Introduction – 2 The Contentious Politics Thesis – 3 Historical Background – 5 Background and Comparison of the Three Agreements – 12 The Three Agreements through the Lens of the Contentious Politics Thesis – 25 Sunningdale Agreement - 25 Anglo-Irish Agreement- 32 Good Friday Agreement- 38 A Comparative Case Study: The Bosnian War (1992-1995) – 43 Conclusions – 53 Reflection on the Contentious Politics Thesis - 54 Works Cited – 57 Appendix 1 : Glossary of Mechanisms and Processes – 59 Appendix 2 : Abbreviations – 61 Appendix 3 : Election Graphs – 62 Capstone Summary – 64 1 Acknowledgements First, I would like to thank my readers, Professor Terry Northrup and Political Science Ph.D. student Meagan Stark. They both took time out of their busy schedules to assist me with this project and provided me with crucial outsider perspectives on my work. This allowed me to construct my Capstone in a more accessible manner for those not familiar with the subject matter. I am very grateful for all their assistance and hope these few words properly express this gratitude. I would next like to thank my family, who supported me throughout my academic career. It is thanks to my parents that I possess the drive and work ethic to complete a project like this. I cannot thank them enough for all the support and encouragement they have given me throughout the years. I would also like to thank Daniel Connors, Ryan Gertz, Frank Gervasio, Edward McLaughlin, and Daniel Rider. These men have been my close friends for many years and have always been willing to lend an ear when I needed to discuss either this work or anything else. To the many professors I had class with during my four years at Syracuse University, I am extremely thankful. They helped me improve my writing, analytical skills, and commitment to quality work, all of which were necessary to finish this Capstone. In particular, Professor Michael Ebner helped me a great deal. I had the pleasure of taking three classes with him and I greatly appreciate the time he spent going over every paper I wrote to help advance my writing skills. Finally, I would like to thank my advisor for this project and for most of my time at Syracuse University, Professor Gavan Duffy. Professor Duffy has been my advisor since I joined the Honors program in the spring of 2009. I took his honors section of PSC 129 that semester and he always pushed me to produce the best possible work. I struggled to adapt to Professor Duffy’s teaching style and expectations, and received my lowest grade in college in that class. This only inspired me to work harder because I knew I could do better. I came to Professor Duffy last spring to discuss potential ideas for my Capstone. I knew I wanted to study political conflict in Ireland, but I lacked a firm idea. He suggested I take his graduate course on political conflict as an independent study for political science. In that class, I learned about the contentious politics thesis for the first time and after several discussions with Professor Duffy, I finally had a solid idea for my Capstone. As my undergraduate career concludes, I look back and fully appreciate all the times he pushed me to take a more difficult class, apply for a scholarship, and strive to produce my best possible work. Without him, this Capstone would not exist. For this and all the guidance over the past three years, I am exceedingly grateful. 2 Introduction The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast the Sunningdale, the Anglo-Irish, and the Good Friday Agreements of Northern Ireland through the lens of the contentious politics thesis of Doug McAdam, Sidney Tarrow, and Charles Tilly. The Sunningdale, Anglo-Irish, and Good Friday Agreements emerged during the course of the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland and all strove to engineer a peace between the feuding nationalist and unionist communities. This work argues that the contentious politics thesis furthers our understanding of the triumphs and failures of each agreement and helps explain why it took three decades to broker a lasting peace. The paper will first provide an introduction to the contentious politics thesis, then a concise summary of Ireland’s contentious history from 1600 to the division of Ireland into North and South in 1922. Next, it will present a brief summary of the background and general reaction to each agreement, followed by the examination of the similarities and differences of the settlements, and then it will identify causal mechanisms and processes in the build up and aftermath of each agreement to demonstrate the contentious politics thesis’ dynamic and progressive approach to studying contentious politics. Finally, it provides a section that compares the Bosnian War (1992-95) to the “Troubles” to help illustrate how the same causal mechanisms and processes can be identified in two distinct conflicts and ends with my conclusions. 1 As I will demonstrate, recognizing the causal mechanisms and processes improves our comprehension of 1 To make clear what mechanisms and processes are being discussed, I italicize them throughout the text. A full glossary for the mechanisms and processes discussed is available at the back of this work in Appendix 1. Also included is a list of the abbreviations used throughout the work. This is in Appendix 2.

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