Abstract
Political change is typically seen as hard to come by in ethnic conflicts. Ethnic conflicts are characterised by security dilemmas and a rhetoric of total war (Stedman, 1996). They, therefore, tend to be highly resistant to change and persist over very long periods of time. This has led Ruane and Todd to suggest that ethnic conflicts display path dependent characteristics, with positive feedback mechanisms, which explains why changes in the patterns of the conflict happen rarely (Ruane and Todd, 2004). Thus, the negotiation of a successful peace agreement must be seen as a highly significant stage in the development of divided societies in that they represent an attempt to break the path dependency of the conflictual relationships between groups.
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© 2008 Christopher Farrington
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Farrington, C. (2008). Introduction: Political Change in a Divided Society — The Implementation of the Belfast Agreement. In: Farrington, C. (eds) Global Change, Civil Society and the Northern Ireland Peace Process. New Security Challenges Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230582552_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230582552_1
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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