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Consociational Peace Processes and Ethnicity: The implications of the Dayton and Good Friday Agreements for Ethnic Identities and Politics in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Northern Ireland

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The Challenges of Ethno-Nationalism

Abstract

Peace building aims ‘to create the conditions necessary for a sustainable peace in war-torn societies’.1 Sustainable peace requires an end to hostilities, or at least a significant reduction in the level of violence, and the creation of stable political institutions.2 One approach in attempting to promote stability in post-conflict situations is to ‘identify traits by which the population has been divided during the conflict, and make sure each group defined by such traits is proportionally represented in the new state organs. Such variables could be everything from geography to gender to religion’.3 However, in practice, international actors involved in peace processes have frequently singled out ethnicity as the predominant division in post-conflict societies.4 In recent peace processes and interventions international actors have adopted this approach thereby conceiving of political legitimacy in terms of ethnically representative government.5

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Notes

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Authors
  1. Rob Aitken
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Queen’s University, Belfast, UK

    Adrian Guelke (Professor of Comparative Politics) (Professor of Comparative Politics)

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© 2010 Rob Aitken

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Aitken, R. (2010). Consociational Peace Processes and Ethnicity: The implications of the Dayton and Good Friday Agreements for Ethnic Identities and Politics in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Northern Ireland. In: Guelke, A. (eds) The Challenges of Ethno-Nationalism. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230282131_13

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