Building a positive peace in Northern Ireland
by Ewan NIXON
12 March 2024
With the return of the Northern Ireland Executive, the topic of the peace process and measuring its success in the province has once again come to the forefront of local political discourse. To that end, Shared Future News held a seminar, chaired by Allan Leonard with a presentation by Maurizio Liberante, to assess a notion of a “positive peace” index for Northern Ireland.
Maurizio Liberante gave his presentation as part of fulfilling project work in the Ambassador programme of the Institute for Economics & Peace (IEP). He explained how the IEP monitors data all over the world and produces regular reports, such as the Global Peace Index, Terrorism Index, Positive Peace Index, and Ecological Threat Report.
Liberante gave particular attention was brought to the Positive Peace Index and how it could be used to shape policy in Northern Ireland, as well as how these other indicators of stability are intrinsically linked with peace and the social cohesion of a society.
Given Northern Ireland’s troubled history and the achievement of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, why is it necessary to advocate for a positive peace?
Liberante highlighted the important differences between the types of peace identified by the IEP. The organisation defines a “negative peace” as one in which there is an absence of violence, and there is no fear that violence will return at any point.
A “positive peace” is instead classified as one in which the structures, attitudes, and institutions that maintain peace within society are overhauled to create a sustainable long-term peace process in the aftermath of conflict.
In terms of Northern Ireland’s situation, Liberante highlighted the development by the Northern Ireland Executive of the Programme for Government, as a potential means to achieve this through an outcomes-based approach.
Quantitative data is emphasised, provided by organisations such as the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA), as well as its close collaboration with external stakeholders in education, health, and infrastructure, as well as academic-led survey data.
It is important to point out the similarities between the objectives of the Programme for Government and the indicators used by the IEP to quantify a positive peace.
In the case of Northern Ireland and its peace process, the IEP’s objectives of establishing a well-functioning government, acceptance of the rights of others, good relations with neighbours, and equitable distribution of resources all tie in with the Program for Government’s planned outcomes of creating an equal, healthy society in which citizens feel secure and respected.
Liberante used an example of cross-community training in Northern Ireland to demonstrate the application of these “pillars”, facilitating the assessment of challenges and opportunities in these distinct communities.
Similarly, previous Programmes for Government produced annual reports based on criteria such as the Better Job Index, Respect Index, and Nation Brand Index, which measure the extent to which the communities view each other, their opportunities, and the state of the economy and country.
Liberante suggested a further integration of these two approaches:
“As shown in the slide [above] on the alignment of the 2021 Programme for Government and the Positive Peace Index, there is clear complementarity in which the PPI pillars themselves could act as pillars to a future Programme for Government.
“It would ensure that peace and stability considerations are integrated across various policy areas.”
The practicality of the Positive Peace model is also an important consideration in scrutinising the government’s real-world ability to implement the concept. Liberante identified three important areas in which this may be achieved: (1) Project Design, for those seeking to design a social impact project or to accelerate the progress of an existing project; (2) Policy Design for executives, local government actors, or national-level policymakers, to increase cooperation and encourage a more holistic approach to policy making; and (3) Dialogue, to increase communication and stakeholder engagement, and create a common language around strengths and weaknesses and design a shared approach for the future.
In terms of the model’s application, a step-by-step implementation is followed, whereby a problem is identified, indicators are applied, and solutions are implemented before being evaluated for their success and effectiveness.
The aforementioned example of cross-community training is demonstrative of the potential benefits of using this system in assessing the impact community relations have had upon the economy and local entrepreneurs, as well as developing solutions that address both the economic and social aspects of these issues, through advocacy for shared platforms and the establishment of cross-community business ventures.
Moving into the future, the question of the new political situation in the United Kingdom also looms over the prospect of building a positive peace in Northern Ireland. Within the wake of Brexit, the UK has fallen three places in the Positive Peace Index since 2020, which is one of the poorest performances of any European nation within the last decade.
The resilience of the political system in Northern Ireland has been put under particular strain in the years following the Brexit referendum, as the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement had never anticipated many of the new policy discussions taking place regarding trade, economic regulations, and the border.
The absence of the Northern Ireland Executive exacerbated these issues, further making the case for working towards a positive peace, where everyone can foster a working, productive relationship.
During the question-and-answer session, Andrew Thomson (Queen’s University Belfast) noted, “We still have quite a lot of work to adapt this particular framework to Northern Ireland,” and observers of local politics will likely agree that will be the case for the foreseeable future.
Nevertheless, the implications of establishing a positive peace in Northern Ireland and the benefits it would provide in progressing from a complacent negative peace make it a concept worth promoting.
