Peace process and the death of moderation?

Mark Mulholland with an interesting quotation from Conor O’Neill’s comparative analysis between Northern Ireland and a future conflict resolution process in Iraq. O’Neill warns that “moderate groups can rapidly haemorrhage support if the perception develops that there is no political penalty for orchestrating violence on the streets”.This would seem to be borne out by the reversal in fortunes of two of the two major stakeholders at the onset of our own peace process, the SDLP and the UUP. It is a moot point as to whether they inevitably suffered from the continuing existence of paramilitaries during supposedly peaceful periods, or an inability to establish and maintain a grass roots organisation whilst their opponents moderated their own previously extreme political positions.

Categories Uncategorised Tags

We are reader supported. Donate to keep Slugger lit!

For over 20 years, Slugger has been an independent place for debate and new ideas. We have published over 40,000 posts and over one and a half million comments on the site. Each month we have over 70,000 readers. All this we have accomplished with only volunteers we have never had any paid staff.

Slugger does not receive any funding, and we respect our readers, so we will never run intrusive ads or sponsored posts. Instead, we are reader-supported. Help us keep Slugger independent by becoming a friend of Slugger. While we run a tight ship and no one gets paid to write, we need money to help us cover our costs.

If you like what we do, we are asking you to consider giving a monthly donation of any amount, or you can give a one-off donation. Any amount is appreciated.