The British and Peace in Northern Ireland

Graham Spencer is Reader in Politics, Conflict and the Media at the University of Portsmouth, Distinguished Senior Research Fellow in the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for Conflict Intervention at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth and Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Politics at the University of Liverpool. His books include From Armed Struggle to Political Struggle: Republican Tradition and Transformation in Northern Ireland (2015), Protestant Identity and Peace in Northern Ireland (2012), The Media and Peace (2008), The State of Loyalism in Northern Ireland (2008), Omagh: Voices of Loss (2005), Ulster Loyalism After the Good Friday Agreement (editor with James W. McAuley, 2011) and Forgiving and Remembering in Northern Ireland (editor, 2011). He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. His research interests include conflict transformation, political negotiation and communication, identities in conflict and reconciliation.

• Introduction; 1. The terrain of discourse Sir Kenneth Bloomfield; 2. The Anglo-Irish Agreement: an interview with Sir David Goodall and Lord Armstrong of Ilminster; 3. The constitutional issue in Irish politics David Hill; 4. Negotiations and positions: an interview with Sir John Chilcot; 5. Resolving intercommunal conflict: some enabling factors Sir Quentin Thomas; 6. Tactics, strategy and space Chris Maccabe; 7. The Joint Declaration and memory David Cooke; 8. Movement and transition in 1997: Major to Blair Sir John Holmes; 9. The challenge of symmetry in dialogue: an interview with Sir Joseph Pilling; 10. Why was the Good Friday Agreement so hard to implement? Lessons from Groundhog Day, 1998–2002 Sir Bill Jeffrey; 11. Text and context: an interview with William Fittall; 12. The nature of dialogue: an interview with Sir Jonathan Phillips; 13. Managing the tensions of difference: an interview with Jonathan Powell; Conclusion.

'This book is an invaluable addition to examining what happened 'behind the scenes' at governmental level in the peace process. Graham Spencer has done a great service in helping us to understand the decision-making processes that went on amongst senior British civil servants and officials and this combination of authored chapters and penetrating interviews provides a wide-ranging analysis of tensions and problems that had to be dealt with before political agreement could be reached. There are many lessons to be found about negotiation in this illuminating and important study and we should thank Graham Spencer for that.' Bertie Ahern, Taoiseach of Ireland, 1997–2008