Northern Ireland Question

BRIAN BARTON tutors in history with the Open University, and has authored or edited eleven books on Irish history and politics. These include, Secret Court Martial Records of the 1916 Easter Rising, and The Easter Rising (co-author with Michael Foy). He also contributed chapters on Northern Ireland to A New History of Ireland, Vol. 8. PATRICK J. ROCHE was Lecturer in Economics at the University of Ulster, UK (1974-96) and a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (1998-2003). Publications include a contribution on contemporary Irish nationalism to Jurgen Elvert (ed), Northern Ireland: Past and Present, and co-editor (with Brian Barton) of three books on the Northern Ireland question including, The Northern Ireland Question: Nationalism, Unionism and Partition.

'The Belfast Agreement of 1998 has undergone rigorous and at times dangerous tests. Brian Barton and Patrick Roche have assembled a team of experts who give a comprehensive history of an unlikely compromise that has influenced and reflected politics and society in Northern Ireland, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.' - George Boyce, Emeritus Professor, University of Swansea, UK 'This is a uniformly readable, challenging, and insightful collection of essays on the Northern Ireland Peace Process. It offers impressive intellectual range, authoritative scholarship, and incisive critical comment and analysis. It should be read and reflected upon by all students of Northern Ireland politics and, indeed, the Province's politicians themselves.' Graham Walker, Professor of Political History, Queen's University Belfast, UK 'This invaluable resource for future students of the Belfast Agreement and the social, political, economic and cultural circumstances that led to it, is worth acquiring for the sparkling contributions of Paul Bew (broadly supportive) and Dennis Kennedy (more than sceptical) alone.' - Dr Ruth Dudley Edwards, Historian and Commentator

• Introduction; B.Barton & P.Roche The Historical Background to the Belfast Agreement; B.Barton Negotiating the Belfast Agreement; T.Hennessey Implementing Devolved Government 1999-2002; G.Gudgin The Belfast Agreement and the Constitutional Status of Northern Ireland; A.Morgan The Electoral Dynamics of the Belfast Agreement; S.Elliott Unionism and the Belfast Agreement; C.Farrington Northern Nationalism and the Belfast Agreement; C.McGrattan Republican Paramilitaries and the Peace Process; J.Tonge Loyalist Paramilitaries and the Peace Process; I.Wood The Belfast Agreement and Southern Irish Politics; C.O'Donnell The United States and the Peace Process; A.Guelke The Triumph of the Belfast Agreement; P.Bew The Case against the Belfast Agreement; D.Kennedy Conclusion; B.Barton & P.Roche