Mediating Political Violence in Northern Ireland

This paper analyses the interlinked roles of mediation and political violence in the termination of violent conflict. It characterises the termination phase as one of the most active phases of contention, one in which negotiation and bargaining become increasingly important elements in the repertoire of contention, analysing mediation as a practice that is completely integrated with the violent struggle for political advantage. The paper is based on a comparative case study of the role of private individuals as mediators between the British government and the IRA leadership over the course of Northern Ireland’s thirty-year conflict. It examines how mediation facilitates the conversion of coercive power into bargaining power that is exchangeable not only between the parties to conflict but also within the complex organisations on both sides of the divide. The paper concludes by offering an integrated analysis of mediation and violence as inextricably linked elements of the termination phase of political violence.