Research Theme: Transformation of Political Participation and Institutions

Typically peace agreements involve compromises over access to power, government and/or territory. Northern Ireland with its power-sharing model for government and the cross-border dimension of the Belfast Agreement provides a good example of an attempt to accommodate competing nationalisms through innovative constitutional arrangements. The range of policy options devised by negotiators is increasingly underwritten by international law in attempts to respond to demands for external self-determination (for example, independence) by providing internal self-determination (for example, effective minority participation in decision-making through autonomy or consociationalism). Although it is too early to talk of a legal right to this broad concept of ‘international self-determination’, the notion finds support in proliferating international instruments on minority rights.

There is, however, another perspective from which to evaluate the political arrangements which emerge as a result of peace processes. The conflict settings that peace agreements address tend to be characterized by grassroots mobilization in the form of a vibrant civil society, often with transnational links.  The roles that civil society organizations play during violent conflict mutate and continue into peace processes. Importantly, this is frequently reflected in specific provisions in peace agreements underpinning civil society involvement in peace processes and beyond.  Recognizing the importance of these developments, TJI research seeks to advance the re-conceptualization of core notions of ‘democracy’, ‘citizenship’ and ‘political participation’, and the relationship between formal political institutions and civil society. Among other things, these developments are particularly relevant to understanding women’s participation in transitional contexts – a topic that forms a major strand of our work on Gender, conflict and transition.