A Silent War: Conflict Resolution and Language Policy and Planning in the North of Ireland and Quebec / Canada

Abstract

The theme of this book is the impact of conflict and conflict resolution (CR) on language policy and planning (LPP). To illustrate this interaction, I shall examine recent developments in the North of Ireland (NoI), with linking references to LPP in the Republic of Ireland (RoI) and in Quebec / Canada (Q /C). My primary focus is the Irish language in the NoI from the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA) to the present (with brief contextual references where relevant to LPP in the Republic of Ireland [RoI]). LPP in respect of the Northern conflict has been neglected in both sociolinguistic and CR analysis. The book seeks to address this gap and also to place both CR and LPP in the NoI in an international context, drawing on Q / C as a mirror, through an examination of developments in federal — Quebec relations since the 1995 referendum on Quebec secession. There are some obvious similarities between the NoI and Q / C, as well as distinct and significant differences. It is not my intention to make forced comparison for the sake of illusory symmetry.