MECHANISMS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND MULTI-TRACK DIPLOMACY IN PEACE PROCESSES Lessons from Northern Ireland THIS INITIATIVE IS FUNDED Understanding conflict. Building peace. BY THE EUROPEAN UNION About International Alert International Alert helps people find peaceful solutions to conflict. We are one of the world’s leading peacebuilding organisations, with nearly 30 years of experience laying the foundations for peace. We work with local people around the world to help them build peace, and we advise governments, organisations and companies on how to support peace. We focus on issues that influence peace, including governance, economics, gender relations, social development, climate change, and the role of businesses and international organisations in high-risk places. www.international-alert.org Acknowledgements This work has been produced with the assistance of the European Union, the UK Conflict Pool and the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. International Alert is also grateful for the support from our strategic donors: the UK Department for International Development UKAID; the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency; the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The opinions expressed in this report are solely those of International Alert/EPNK and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of its donors. © International Alert 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without full attribution. Front cover image: Parliament Buildings, Stormont, Northern Ireland Assembly © trevorb687/iStockphoto MECHANISMS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND MULTI-TRACK DIPLOMACY IN PEACE PROCESSES Lessons from Northern Ireland May 2014 2 International Alert Contents About the authors 3 Abbreviations 4 Introduction 5 How did we get here? 6 1. From bombs to ballots: political institutions and conflict transformation in Northern Ireland 15 2. The role of official diplomacy and external actors in the Northern Ireland peace process 26 3. The role of the diaspora in Northern Ireland and mechanisms for engaging it in the transformation of the conflict 38 4. The role of the media in the Northern Ireland conflict 50 5. Civil society in Northern Ireland in the quest for peace 63 Mechanisms of public participation and multi-track diplomacy: Lessons from Northern Ireland 3 About the authors Gegham Baghdasaryan has a background in journalism and politics. He is the founder and president of the Stepanakert Press Club, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that has been a centre for media freedom in Nagorny Karabakh since 1998. Gegham headed the publication of the popular independent newspaper Demo in 2004–2008, and he is currently editor-in-chief of the monthly analytical journal Analitikon, published in Armenian and Russian. Avaz Hasanov is the Director of the Society for Humanitarian Research, an NGO that seeks democratic change through the protection of human rights and freedoms as well as the construction of more sustainable citizen participation in building civil society. A prominent figure in Azerbaijani civil society, Avaz is editor of the magazine Human Rights in Azerbaijan and has participated widely in dialogue meetings with Armenian counterparts. Mikayel Zolyan is a historian and political analyst from Armenia. An alumnus of the Heinrich Böll Foundation’s South Caucasus regional scholarship programme, he currently teaches at the V. Brusov Yerevan State Linguistic University and works for the Yerevan Press Club, an NGO in Yerevan. Mikayel’s research interests include issues of nationalism and ethnicity, ethno-political conflict, democratisation processes and social movements. He is the author of a number of articles published both in Armenia and abroad. Masis Mayilian is the Chair of the Public Council for Foreign and Security Policy, a non- governmental partnership and think-tank based in Nagorny Karabakh. He has had a long career in politics and diplomacy, and has participated in Track I negotiations and policy expert forums and discussions on the Caucasus region and Armenian-Turkish relations. Masis has authored numerous articles and research reports on the Nagorny Karabakh conflict and regional issues. Gulshan Pashayeva is Deputy Director of the think-tank the Center for Strategic Studies under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan. She previously worked for the United Nations Office in Azerbaijan as National Programme Coordinator for the UN Women (UNIFEM) project ‘Women for Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding in the South Caucasus’ (2001–2006), and as Public Information Associate for the United Nations Department of Public Information (UNDPI). From 1996 to 2001 she directed the NGO Conflict Research Center and taught at various state and private universities in Azerbaijan. Gulshan specialises in conflict resolution and security studies, as well as gender and language policy. She is the author of more than 70 publications. 4 International Alert Abbreviations ANIA Americans for a New Irish Agenda DUP Democratic Unionist Party IFI International Fund for Ireland INC Irish National Caucus INLA Irish National Liberation Army IRA Irish Republican Army LVF Loyalist Volunteer Force MLA Member of the Legislative Assembly NGO Non-governmental organisation PUP Progressive Unionist Party RUC Royal Ulster Constabulary SDLP Social Democratic and Labour Party UDA Ulster Defence Association UDP Ulster Democratic Party UDR Ulster Defence Regiment UFF Ulster Freedom Fighters UUP Ulster Unionist Party UVF Ulster Volunteer Force Mechanisms of public participation and multi-track diplomacy: Lessons from Northern Ireland 5 Introduction International Alert has been engaged in conflict transformation in the South Caucasus since the mid-1990s. In the Nagorny Karabakh conflict context, we have sought to empower different sectors of society to build trust across the divide, explore alternative narratives on the conflict and advocate for peace among policymakers. As part of the European Partnership for the Peaceful Settlement of the Conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh (EPNK), Alert has brought together a group of experts from the conflict region to carry out comparative analysis of other conflict contexts. Conflicts can be studied on different levels and with different aims – from understanding the causes, dynamics and driving forces of conflict to studying the positions of the conflicting sides and specific solutions. This project does not focus on any of these aims. Instead, we approach the analysis of other conflicts from the perspective of civil peacebuilding. In particular, we seek to study the participation of civil society and the role of multi-track diplomacy in peace processes and efforts to transform conflicts using specific mechanisms and institutions that do not have direct political leverage or resources. Another important part of the project consists of stimulating broad debate with diverse sectors of the population based on new ideas and perspectives on transforming the conflict, and developing new approaches through direct dialogue with the societies. The first initiative of the expert group was to analyse perceptions of peacebuilding efforts among civil society from their own conflict context to date. This research formed the basis of their joint publication – ‘Advancing the Prospects for Peace: 20 years of civil peacebuilding in the Nagorny Karabakh conflict context’ – an innovative attempt to collectively reflect on 20 years of peacebuilding efforts by civil society. Taking their first joint publication as a starting point for subsequent comparative research into other conflict contexts, the group studied mechanisms of public participation and multi-track diplomacy in the context of the Northern Ireland peace process. The experts carried out a deep theoretical analysis of the conflict and travelled to Belfast, Dublin and London to meet with a wide range of experts, civil society leaders, representatives of Catholic and Protestant communities, people who had taken part in the armed conflict, politicians involved in the negotiations and current members of parliament. The results of this work form the basis of this study. International Alert would like to extend its thanks to the participants of the expert group, as well as to all those who contributed to the research in Belfast, Dublin and London – in particular, Clem McCartney who generously shared his knowledge and time throughout the programme. 6 International Alert How did we get here? Clem McCartney A personal view Most conflicts are hard for those outside to understand. The parties to the conflict shift and change, and at first glance they often seem indistinguishable from each other. The issues often seem trivial and not worth fighting over. Even the terms they use shift and change, and they become a source of conflict. ‘Why can’t they just grow up and learn to live together?’ we feel like saying. In this respect, the conflict in Northern Ireland is no different from other conflicts. Even the parties to the conflict can have difficulty in analysing and explaining it at times. They construct a narrative of the conflict and its history that represents their preferred understanding of the conflict and that provides them with support for their current actions and proposed solution. Such narratives do not generally deny the facts, but the meanings they