From border conflict to identity conflict: The EU’s approach to conflict resolution in N. Ireland

The European Union’s contribution to peaceful settlement in Northern Ireland has been predicated on a conceptualisation of the conflict as between two identities defined in relation to the Irish border. This approach was introduced and embodied in the Haagerup Report on the situation in Northern Ireland, issued by the Political Affairs Committee of the European Parliament in 1984. The Report’s motion for a resolution proposes that the conflict be defused through action bringing together ‘British’ and ‘Irish’, beginning at the highest levels of
government and filtered down through to regional and local level. Building on this, the EU’s self-ascribed role in conflict resolution has been primarily a supportive one, facilitating and building on vital agreement between the two states. The most notable product of revitalised British-Irish relations has been the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which applies the dual categorisation of actors as either Irish nationalist or British unionist. From this starting point, the Agreement puts into practice the intergovernmental agreement, multilevel governance and cross-border cooperation outlined in the Haagerup Report. Tracing the redefinition of the conflict in Northern Ireland from one of a clash of territorial claims to one of contrasting national identities, this paper evaluates the common ground between the peace process as nurtured by the two states and the EU’s approach to Northern Ireland. Ultimately, the 1998 Agreement reflects the EU’s assumption that conflict resolution is achieved not so much through the transcendence of national differences as by their peaceful, democratic expression.