Olga Skarlato

The Impact of International Funding on Reconciliation and Human Security in Northern Ireland

During the summer of 2006, 98 interviews were conducted in the Border areas, Derry, and Belfast, with recipients of economic aid from the International Fund for Ireland and/or the European Union Peace II Fund. The research findings point to the importance of micro-political factors in peoples assessment of the impact of funding on peacebuilding, as well as in terms of individual insights into the barriers that prevent deep reconciliation. The respondents also suggest that conflict can be explained (or is underlain) by a deep aversion, which can be contrasted to affinity, which is exemplified in some community activities. In addition, a politics of recognition is problematic to the funding schemes that reproduce division. Reconciliation, identity and diversity are discussed in the context of human security.

Building Trust and Goodwill in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties: The Impact of Economic Aid on the Peace Process

Abstract This article examines attitudes to the impacts of the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) and the European Union Peace II Fund on building trust and goodwill in Northern Ireland. It draws on interviews of 98 study participants conducted during the summer of 2006, and a public opinion survey of 1,023 adults conducted in October 2006. The perceptions of community group leaders, funding agency civil servants and development officers are explored. The experiences of the study participants with the EU Peace II Fund and the IFI are discussed in the wider context of development, peacebuilding and reconciliation in Northern Ireland and in the Border Counties of the Republic of Ireland.

Civil Society Leaders and Northern Ireland's Peace Process: Hopes and Fears for the Future

This article explores the interview narratives of 98 Northern Irish participants (consisting of NGO and community group leaders, development officers, and civil servants responsible for funding grassroots peacebuilding work) regarding their hopes and fears for the future. These civil society leaders expressed a wide variety of hopes and fears addressing both the micro grassroots and the macro political levels of society. An analysis of these expressed hopes and fears is both instructive and significant. Civil society peacebuilding actors have been given significant voice in the Northern Ireland peace process. The findings reveal significant hope that reconciliation work at the grassroots level will be successful, but conversely, they also reveal noticeable fear regarding the political peace process and the resumption of political violence.

Development interventions and conflict transformation: An exploration of perceptions about the impact of economic aid in peacebuilding and the economic development in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties

This article analyzes perceptions of the impacts of the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) and the European Union (EU) Peace II Fund on economic development in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties. It draws on interviews of 98 study participants conducted during the summer of 2006. The perceptions of community group leaders, funding agency civil servants, and development officers are explored. The images of the respondents and aid recipients of the EU Peace II Fund and the IFI are discussed in the broader context of peacebuilding and economic development in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties.