This past Saturday marked the 23 year anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA), a landmark peace settlement brokered by the United States that ended three decades of insurgent conflict in Northern Ireland, grimly remembered as “The Troubles.” Despite the GFA’s success in reducing violence and promoting power-sharing between Northern Ireland’s Catholic and Protestant communities, unresolved tensions within the agreement and new pressures stoked by Brexit threaten its integrity, and thus jeopardize Northern Ireland’s hard-won peace.
Riots rippled across Protestant communities in the North last week, injuring policemen and damaging property. The violence is symptomatic of Protestant disillusionment with the British government and dissatisfaction with the GFA. The newly implemented Northern Ireland Protocol, a linchpin of Britain’s Brexit agreement with the European Union, angers Northern Protestants because it imposes customs checks on trade between the North and elsewhere in Britain. This has caused shortages of basic goods and has threatened the Protestant community’s political creed of “Unionism” by differentiating Northern Ireland from the rest of the United Kingdom. This spate of violence also exposes dwindling popularity among Protestants for the GFA’s political framework, which they fear will eventuate reunion with the Republic of Ireland. President Biden has already expressed concern over the fraught situation in Northern Ireland, and has signaled his “steadfast support” for the GFA. Whether the agreement endures has outsized significance for Transatlantic politics: tumult in Northern Ireland undermines relations between Britain and the E.U., potentially reigniting dissension among American allies and disrupting global trade. The GFA, moreover, is a testament to the salutary influence of American leadership, its preservation redounds to the credit of U.S. diplomacy.
Questions and Background
- How should the Biden Administration approach the GFA and the prospect of Irish reunification?
- How important was U.K. membership in the E.U. to the success of the Good Friday Agreement? Has Brexit weakened the agreement’s integrity?
- A generation after the GFA, Northern Protestants and Catholics are almost as socially divided as ever. Could the agreement have done more to promote inter-communal dialogue outside of politics?
The Ghosts of Northern Ireland’s Troubles Are Back
Rick Gladstone and Peter Robins. New York Times. April 12, 2021.
Biden’s Irish Roots Promise a New Kind of Special Relationship
Amy Mackinnon and Colm Quinn. Foreign Policy. November 19, 2020.
Watch: Shaping Ireland’s Future at Home and in the World
Thomas Wright and Prime Minister of Ireland Micheal Martin. Brookings Institution. March 15, 2021.