'The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance - International IDEA'
Abstract
Political conflict and community sectarianism have plagued Northern Ireland’s society
for several generations. The Good Friday Agreement (GFA)of April was seen by many to be an end-point to this particular period of instability and to herald a new
beginning for the region based on a carefully constructed range of institutions based on
power sharing between the unionists and the nationalists, negotiated through inclusive
consensus.This study seeks to examine the problems and difficulties that emerged after
the GFA and will attempt to answer the questions: What went wrong? and Why has this
peace process experienced difficulties and setbacks during the implementation phase?
The study will try to illustrate what problems have emerged in the attempts to
implement the institutions of the GFA and explain the wider reasons behind these and
why they have become such difficult sticking points in the peace process
