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Diplomarbeit Titel der Diplomarbeit „They haven't gone away, you know?“ Northern Ireland After the Peace Agreement in 1998 Verfasserin Valerie Erwa angestrebter akademischer Grad Magistra der Philosophie (Mag. phil) Wien, im Dezember 2010 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt: A 307 Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt: Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie Betreuer: Ao. Univ. Prof. Mag. DDr. Werner Zips “They haven't gone away, you know?” Northern Ireland after the Peace Agreement in 1998 To those who remain unheard And to Chris, my friend and comrade in struggle for life, politics and happiness La lucha continua! Table of Contents Preface............................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements..........................................................................................vi Abbreviations....................................................................................................vii Chapter 1. “They haven't gone away, you know?”......................................1 1.1. An Introduction..................................................................................... 1 1.2. No Typical Colony ............................................................................... 3 1.3. After the Peace Treaty..........................................................................5 1.4. On Division........................................................................................... 7 Chapter 2. A Brief History of Northern Ireland............................................10 2.1. Plantation and Early Formation..........................................................10 2.2. The Birth of a Country – Northern Ireland's Nascence......................13 2.3. Civil Rights..........................................................................................15 2.4. Bloody Sunday – A date impossible to avoid.....................................16 2.5. The Collapse of the State...................................................................18 2.6. The Peace Process............................................................................ 20 2.7. The Good Friday Agreement..............................................................21 Chapter 3. Theoretical Concepts.................................................................23 3.1. Why Governance?.............................................................................23 3.1.1. Governance Concepts........................................................... 24 3.1.2. Who are the Actors?.............................................................. 29 3.2. Embedded.........................................................................................33 3.2.1. What is Habitus?...................................................................33 3.2.2. Durable - but not eternal.......................................................39 3.2.3. We're one but we're not the same.........................................40 3.2.4. Tool Kit..................................................................................41 3.3 Violence and the Effects of Violence..................................................43 3.3.1. Public Support of Violence....................................................48 3.3.2. It's the wall in people's minds................................................52 3.3.3. Reflexivity..............................................................................52 3.3.4. Interviews..............................................................................54 Chapter 4. Loyalist Paramilitaries and the Situation Now.........................57 4.1. Paramilitary Nicknames..................................................................... 58 4.2. They haven't gone away, you know?.................................................59 4.2.1. A Paramilitary Country........................................................... 59 4.2.2. They are like Chameleons – Formation of Paramilitaries.....60 4.2.3. Ian Paisley.............................................................................62 4.2.4. The Civil Rights Movement....................................................63 4.2.5. First Steps in a Post War Society.......................................... 60 4.3. The UVF – The Men in Black............................................................. 70 4.4. The UDA – Simply the Best................................................................72 4.5. Fighting for Peace.............................................................................. 75 4.5.1. Just because it's legal it doesn't make it right.......................77 4.5.2. Different Arms ....................................................................... 79 4.5.3. New Volunteers......................................................................80 4.5.4. Never-ending Story................................................................81 4.5.5. The 2005 Feud...................................................................... 82 4.5.6. Friendship.............................................................................. 83 4.5.7. Believers................................................................................ 83 4.5.8. Supporting the Unpopular......................................................84 4.5.9. State Forces...........................................................................85 4.5.10. Recruitment............................................................................86 4.5.11. Infiltration............................................................................... 87 4.5.12. Funding – who's going to pay for it?......................................87 4.5.13. Funding Today....................................................................... 88 4.6. Governance and Paramilitaries..........................................................89 4.7. Future Scenarios................................................................................ 91 4.7.1. Opinions on the Future..........................................................92 4.7.2. Endangerments for the Peace Process................................94 4.7.3. The Hope for a continuing Peace ......................................... 95 Chapter 5. Conclusion..................................................................................95 Chapter 6. References................................................................................100 Appendix 1: Additional Reading.................................................................cvii Appendix 2: Internet Sources......................................................................cx Appendix 3: Pictures....................................................................................cxi Appendix 4: Formal Interviews...................................................................cxii Appendix 5: Informal Conversations and Anonymous Sources.............cxii Preface It needs to be mentioned here, that the literature on Northern Ireland is vast, compared to the size of the country, but small in information regarding what I was aiming to explore. Many have looked rather closely at paramilitaries, at the unique historical circumstances as well as in the field of political science at the indeed very interesting peace treaty and it's aftermath. Even though the literature is so unnaturally large, I haven't found a book, nor an article, on the concrete topic I wanted to analyze. What happened to paramilitaries after the Peace Agreement is a question treated in some books, mainly they describe demilitarization and decommissioning. What I wanted to examine, in how far paramilitaries have changed towards a Mafia network and thus are integrated in all levels of daily life, from private sector to the government decisions. During my fieldwork I have also been “warned” not to dig deeper. “Fieldwork under fire” can have many different meanings, in my case I was lucky to know the country so well. Through this I could adapt certain ways of behaviour as well as the Belfast- dialect, which is in my opinion a very important factor to gain people's trust. Since many years I dealt with Northern Ireland and I was trying to scratch the surface to look behind it. Many times I have been told off. What I found often were closed minds, who acted like the either have never heard of anything or showed clearly that it was not a matter of interest to anybody. Since 1998 some significant changes have taken place. By 2010 all paramilitaries have officially decommissioned, so the chances that another war breaks out are smaller than before. Although the military importance is almost eliminated, “they” are still in the game, operating behind the scenes. v Acknowledgements This paper would not have been possible without the kind help of some persons and institutions who have believed in me. I owe them a lot for trusting me in my idea of letting them speak. First of all, I want to thank the people in Austria, my family who has supported me during all these years with all my plans and who always accepted the paths I chose to follow, as well as my friends Maria, Philipp, Steffi, Valerie and Jenny who make life worthwhile. Hence I want to thank the staff of the City of Belfast YMCA, especially Colin and Diane, who have most kindly given their best to make our stay in Belfast as comfortable as possible and who have been there in the following years to answer my questions. Further, I want to thank all the people who were willing to talk to me, especially Adele, Chris, Patrick, Simon, Tracy and the lads from
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