The Promise of Peace

Abstract

When warring parties commit to and sign an agreement, the shared sense of relief but mainly hope that murder, destruction and violence abates often masks feelings of disappointment and loss that stem from compromise. The promise of peace that emerges in the euphoria of a ceasefire or an agreement is often revealed in people’s instinctive responses to news that violence could cease. In Northern Ireland, Bosnia and elsewhere, the collective response is highly visible in people celebrating together (often only within communities) on streets and at landmarks. On the 31 August 1994, when the IRA announced a ‘complete cessation of military operations’, nationalist and republican communities across urban landscapes such as Belfast and Derry city welcomed this by celebrating on the streets — with cars adorned in Irish flags and horns being blown. This public demonstration of support for the ceasefires displayed the sense of relief and hope; yet such an expression was not mirrored on the Unionist/Loyalist communities, where cautious optimism reigned. The physical expression of hope evidenced in the street celebrations lay in the promise that peace could be accomplished in Northern Ireland and that there would be an end to the bloodletting. As with peace processes that are explored throughout this book, the dawn of peace was far from grasp. Seventeen months later and signalling the end of the IRA 1994 ceasefire, the killing of two people in an IRA bomb in London’s Docklands underscored the fragility of peace processes.