Introduction

Abstract

The conflict in Northern Ireland has consisted of multiple relationships between and within groups (sometimes violent, sometimes merely antagonistic). By extension a peace process necessitates addressing these relationships and transforming them into a mode which is less destructive. The extent to which the peace process in Northern Ireland has accomplished or has intended to accomplish this is debateable but the process has fundamentally altered all of these relationships. Indeed, as the process has developed, it has created yet another dynamic, as the various groups developed a relationship with the process itself. It is that relationship which this book examines and in doing so it seeks to link the study of Ulster Unionism and the study of the Northern Ireland peace process. Too frequently the peace process is considered without a thorough understanding of this relationship and, similarly, Unionism is discussed as if it exists outside the political changes which have occurred since the early 1990s. It seeks to give Unionism a central place in this analysis, to understand the relationship between changes that are initiated and driven by other political actors and the attitudes of the group which is not central to those changes. The focus is on ‘formal’ politics throughout. In other words, the focus is on political parties, public intellectuals and politicians. However, in studying these institutions and people, the effort has been made to move the focus away from the elite leadership, on which some of the most recent studies have concentrated (Godson, 2004; Miller, 2005). In addition, the focus is on the longer-term processes and how these have interacted and influenced the development of the political parties, rather than on the micro-issues of the process such as when and how a particular deal or trade-off was made.