incore annual report 1999-2000

INCOREAnnual Report1999-2000

Preface by the Chairman

The University of Ulster’s mission, as articulated in its Millennium vision strategy, is to become a strategicacademic resource of regional, national and international relevance. Given such a commitment, and givenits location in Northern Ireland, a region just beginning to emerge from conflict, the University of Ulster isuniquely placed to contribute to the task of addressing issues of conflict management and resolution. TheUniversity’s development of UNU/INCORE as one of 12 United Nations University centres throughout theworld has added substantially to our capacity to contribute to the urgent need for policy and practice relevantresearch which can be of significant use to those working in the field of conflict.

Here in Northern Ireland we are all too aware of the social, economic and community cost of our inability toconstructively manage our differences, and of the challenge to a university located within such a society.Many of the university’s staff have contributed to the development of knowledge which has enabled theregion to move into stability. They have done this by maintaining a strong university research base whichhas helped to underpin economic development and innovation within the region, enabling it to move swiftlyforward in developing the economy. In the field of conflict, university staff have worked on issues of education;on ways to address sectarianism and violence; on researching and participating in mediation and secondtrack diplomacy to enable political agreements; on developing participatory processes suitable for a dividedsociety; and by working on institutional diversity issues. This work has been significantly helped by thecomparative and international work of INCORE, with its many multinational intellectual and practicepartnerships, which, as this report will show, has increased local perspectives on possible ways forward onmany divisive issues over the past few years.

Just as Northern Ireland has benefited from learning about constructive approaches to conflict elsewhere,such lessons learned here are also proving to be of significant interest in many other situations. As thisannual report will show, despite increasing globalisation, the number of ethnic, political, religious and socialconflicts throughout the world continues to increase. INCORE identifies and analyses patterns and processeswhich can usefully offer lessons on the more peaceful management of these conflicts and its work spansmany countries. INCORE’s work has significantly developed over the last year. I am delighted to see that itis increasingly in demand by national governments and international institutions who are calling upon it toprovide briefings, and to assist with both theoretical and practical approaches to conflict resolution.

In 2000, as the new Vice Chancellor of the University of Ulster, I took over the Chair of INCORE, and Iwould like to thank my predecessor, Lord Smith, without whose initiative and encouragement INCOREcould never have been developed. I would also like to thank previous board members, Mrs. Mary ClarkeGlass, Mr. David Cheal, Prof. Fabian Monds, Prof. Peter Roebuck, and Dr. Peider Koenz (UNU) for theirinvaluable work over the years. The work of INCORE would not of course have been possible without thegenerosity of our funders whose continuing support has been invaluable. I hope that they will see their faithin the work to be validated, and continue to work in partnership with us over the coming years, thus enablingus to address the many conflict challenges that lie ahead.

Professor TG McKennaVice-Chancellor and President of the University of Ulster

Director’s Report

At times, it can be difficult to dismiss those whobelieve that work directed towards the morepeaceful management of conflicts is equivalentto the task of Sisyphus. No sooner do we beginto relax over the few conflicts that appear to bemoving from violence to politics, as has beenincreasingly the case in Bosnia, Rwanda andNorthern Ireland, for example, than others eruptanew. This year has seen many conflicts violentlyemerging such as in Indonesia, re-igniting withrenewed ferocity as in Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka,or rumbling dangerously near to emergence as inZimbabwe and Montenegro.

It is true that the number of wars is not decreasing.Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991,the net total of armed conflicts around the worldhas remained the same, averaging about 50 everyyear. Almost all of these were internal wars overissues of ethnicity, religion, or internal social andpolitical power, although some had an externaldimension. Many were protracted, lasting overseven years, and many were recurrent. Some, suchas the Indian and Pakistan border conflicts, withtheir concomitant threat of nuclear war, threatenthe very stability of the planet.

Meanwhile, the role of the internationalcommunity in addressing their responsibilities inrelation to these wars remains confused, withmotivations for intervention often unclear,particularly in the case of long term objectives asin the case of Kosova, for example. Furthermore,military budgets, ostensibly created to addressmany of these conflicts, continue to rise. Thesebudgets were up by 2.9% in 1999, with the poorestcountries often carrying proportionately theheaviest burden of expenditure. The changingsecurity architecture with its varying pace and itssometimes competing alliances in matters ofsecurity and peacekeeping issues, and its oftenad hoc approach to issues of involvement andfinancing for intervention activities, also ensurescontinuing frustration on the part of those whowish for more successful conflict interventions.

Yet, the picture is not all bleak. If one examinesthe world more closely, one may see cautiouslyemerging initiatives and trends which may in thelong run augur well for the more constructivemanagement of such conflicts in the future.

The first of these is the continuing, and growinginterest in the activity of peacekeeping itself. Thenumber of countries involved in peace keepinggrew to 89 in 1999. Motivations for suchpeacekeeping commitment may vary, and

sometimes are born out of domestic necessitiesrather than altruistic reasons. The very processesof multi-national peacekeeping activity, however,with its need for co-operation among countries(some of whom have been former enemies) areoften forms of peace processes in themselves, andincrease understanding and co-operation betweenthose nations involved in such activities.

The second sign for hope is the new global legalarchitecture that is being created – albeitpainstakingly slowly. Such architecture includesthe War Crimes Tribunal for Yugoslavia, theInternational Criminal Court, and the internationalban on landmines. Such developments willhopefully begin to provide a deterrent against theoften violent impunity of governments and warlords throughout the world who have previouslyfelt protected in their perceived sovereignty.While such legal processes are unlikely to effectretribution on more than a few of those involvedin such human rights violations, already thepsychological leverage on the actions of suchdestructive leaders is becoming apparent.

Finally, we are beginning to see the developmentthroughout the world, at INCORE and otheracademic institutes, of some knowledgeaggregation in the field of conflict that may beginto bring authority and focus to non-militaryapproaches to conflict. In particular, researchemerging on the connection between negativegovernmental approaches to pluralism and theemergence of violence is indicating very clearlyways in which governments can prevent suchviolence. Careful studies of second trackdiplomacy (as opposed to more traditionaldiplomacy) and its increasing sophistication areseen as a key factor in bringing about an end toconflicts add significantly to the repertoire ofapproaches for reaching political agreements. Therole of civil society, particularly local NGOs andthe business sector in assisting with peace-building processes is increasingly recognised andproviding pointers for action for local andinternational approaches to conflict.Accumulating knowledge about the rhythm andchallenges of peace processes themselvesprovides both confidence and understanding tothose involved in such processes. Above all, thecomparative learning approach, which is a hallmark of INCORE’s approach to learning hasbecome an increasingly constructive part ofresolving conflicts - where once internationalmilitarists and parmilitarists shared techniques onmilitary and guerrilla interventions, many are nowsharing learning on the challenges of peace-building.

Nevertheless, this limited knowledge development is not enough to meet the needs facing those in the field,and the work of promoting approaches based on sound reflection and research, continues to be of the paramountimportance. Towards such an end, INCORE’s Research Programme has continued to expand in scope and indepth, and continued to increase its collaborative contacts throughout the world. As this annual report shows,this year in particular saw a significant increase in the amount of research we are undertaking, all of whichhas a policy or practice relevance. INCORE is continuing to focus on issues pertaining to Post Conflictissues, issues of Governance and Diversity, and the challenge of developing appropriate Methodologies inResearching Violent Societies. Of particular note this year is the completion of the Coming Out of Violenceproject which will result in a series of six books by MacMillan Press, and, in New York in early 2001, amajor seminar for policy makers on best practice in the management of peace processes.

It is equally important to promote an increased awareness of such research and ensure its utilisation toinform policy choices. INCORE’s Policy and Evaluation Unit has been focusing on researching best practicein policy development, and in evaluation. In addition, the unit carried out policy projects at an internationallevel, for example, a workshop on Constitution Making, held in Geneva; and in Northern Ireland acomparative/international project on issues of Mediation, Monitoring and Stewarding. The Unit has alsoinitiated the first ever INCORE Summer School, which was very successful and recruited widely amongpolicy makers and practitioners both local and international. INCORE is also increasingly being used forconsultations by governments and policy makers around the world who wish to avail of its research expertiseto brief them on best practices in non-military approaches to conflict.

INCORE’s co-operation with its sister organisations in the United Nations University (UNU) continues todevelop, and Autumn 2000 will see the mirroring of INCORE’s international Conflict Data Service web siteon the main web site of the UNU. This will ensure a much wider usage for the site, which is already extremelywell used by policy makers and academics alike. INCORE also continues to host the award-winning CAINsite, which carries information on the Northern Ireland conflict.

It is a substantial pleasure for us all at INCORE to see the increasing numbers of fellows, interns, sabbaticaltakers and INCORE/UU D.Phil students from all over the world who are choosing to spend time with us inAberfoyle House. They add immensely to the richness of our learning environment, bringing, as they oftendo, an intimate territorial and issue based knowledge of the field of conflict which adds significantly to thetapestry of collective learning.

In the autumn of 2000, INCORE will begin a new 3 year Strategic plan, in which it looks to build upon theimmense amount of work that has been undertaken in the last three years, and critically addresses the needsof the next 3 years. A few necessities of focus are already emerging for the future. These include the need foran increased concentration on accumulating and sharing best practice lessons in constructive interventionsin conflict, in order to develop the validity of the field; the urgent need to focus on what practically can bedone to increase the more constructive management of pluralism, particularly by governments; and thenecessity to ensure that the study of conflict, and the policy and practice relevance of such study, is increasinglyrespected and resourced by those who hitherto have seen primarily the necessity of military interventions inconflict situations.

I would like to end by expressing, on behalf of all of us at INCORE, our heartfelt thanks to Professor LordSmith, the previous Vice Chancellor of the University of Ulster, for his initial inspiring efforts in ensuringthe development of INCORE, and for his support since its inception. I would also like to thank the membersof INCORE’s outgoing Board and the International Advisory Group, who have been generous in the timeand support they have given us in our development over the past few years. Particular thanks are due to ourfunders, who continue to believe, despite the Sisyphean nature of the task, that the work of INCORE isworth their investment.

Finally, I would like to extend a welcome to the new Chairman of INCORE, the new Vice- Chancellor andPresident of the University of Ulster, Professor Gerry McKenna, who, despite the many challenging tasksthat face him as the new Vice Chancellor, has agreed to chair the Board of INCORE. We are grateful for hisleadership and look forward to his support over the coming years.

Professor Mari Fitzduff

Research Unit

What an exciting year this has been for INCOREin many ways, not least in terms of the increasein the number of research projects in which weare now involved. Many of the on-going projectsare linked and this is providing a wonderfulopportunity for the researchers involved to sharenetworks and support each others’ work. Fulldetails of INCORE’s research is available on ourwebsite at www.incore.ulst.ac.uk/home/research

INCORE’s research profile is concentrated aroundthe following themes:

� Peace Processes� Dealing with the Past� Policy in Transition� Governance and Diversity� Methodologies of researching violent/divided

societies

Current research continues to focus on the post-violent phase of conflict. Prof. John Darby andDr. Roger MacGinty have completed thesuccessful Coming out of Violence project whichconsidered a number of peace processes. The firstin a series of six books to be published from theproject by Macmillan Press was published duringthe year and the book on the Northern Irish peaceprocess will follow shortly. A major seminar forpolicy makers is scheduled for New York in early2001.

The follow-on project Progressing TowardsSettlement examines attempts to transformconflicts from violence to settlement. It examineswhat constitutes success in peace processes andhow it was accomplished, through a thematicapproach. The main themes, which encompassapproximately 20 support themes, are:� Preparing for peace - how to move towards a

settlement while violent conflicts are inprogress;

� Negotiating peace (including pre-negotiation)� The effects of violence (in its various forms)

on peace processes� Peace accords-constitutional and political

options� Securing the settlement-peace building.Its aim is to provide a deeper understanding ofthe process for both policy-makers and academics.

The project will conclude in 2001.

A complementary project From Protagonist toPragmatist: Political Leadership in DividedSocieties commenced in January 2000. It is acomparative international project focusing onNorthern Ireland, Israel/Palestine and SouthAfrica. The main aim is to highlight the role thatpolitical leaders play, and the ways in which theirroles can change, in countries that are movingfrom intense violence towards the pains ofreconciliation and confidence-building. CathyGormley-Heenan is the researcher working on thisproject which is funded by CCRU.

Demilitarisation in Northern Ireland - TheRole of ‘Decommissioning’ and ‘Normalisationof Security’ in the Peace Process is acollaborative project between the BonnInternational Center For Conversion (BICC) andINCORE that commenced during the year. Theproject aims to monitor the implementation of thedemilitarisation process of the Belfast Agreement,and analyze the governing potential of the peaceaccord with regard to the role of the domestic andinternational actors involved in transforming andresolving conflict in the area of demilitarisation.The project has three main areas of focus:demilitarisation, decommissioning and the role ofparamilitary prisoners. Liam O’Hagan fromINCORE is working on the project with Dr.Corinna Hauswedell from BICC.

Norman Porter, INCORE Research Fellow(now in Australia) is continuing his initiative topromote North/South dialogue around issues ofdivision within Nationalist/republican perceptionsand structures, as well as between Unionism andNationalism. His latest publication (due out late2000) The Elusive Quest: Reconciliation and itsObstacles (Belfast: Blackstaff Press) extendsINCORE’s interest in the area of dealing with thepast.

All of this work has implications for Policy andthe close liaison between the Research and PolicyUnits will ensure appropriate dissemination andcommunication between researchers and policy-makers. A new project funded under the ESRCFuture Governance: Comparative PublicPolicy Programme specifically addresses theissue of the implementation of policy in societiesin transition. Building on the close relationshipwith the Centre for the Study of Violence andReconciliation in Johannesburg, forged throughour former Tip O’Neill fellow Brandon Hamber,

the project Developing and Implementing Public Policy in Countries in Transition will involve acomparative exploration of the issues involved in implementing policy. Dr. Helen Brocklehurst has beenappointed as the Northern Ireland researcher on this project and Noel Stott is the South African researchofficer.

A further new study on Management of Diversity has received pilot funding and commenced in August2000. This research programme will address the needs of policy makers with responsibility for societaldiversity in Northern Ireland. Dr. Billy Leonard is the researcher on this project.

Tip O’Neill Fellows - 1999/2000

INCORE was delighted to be in a position to award two fellowships for the 1999-2000 year. We receivedover 80 applications from researchers in over 20 different countries who presented a wide range of veryexciting research proposals. The two candidates selected complement INCORE’s research and policy interests.

Fernand de Varennes researched the following topic ‘International Law, Human Rights and Minority Rights:A Legal Approach to Ethnic Conflict Prevention’. A native of Canada, he graduated from the School of Lawat the Universite de Moncton and holds a Master’s degree in Law from the London School of Economicsand Political Science as well as a doctorate degree in law from Maastricht University. His prior work hasbeen published world-wide in seven languages and include books on human rights, as well as minority andlinguistic rights. He is the Director of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Human Rights and the Prevention ofEthnic Conflict, at Murdoch University in Australia as well as the Editor-in-Chief of a new journal, the Asia-Pacific Journal on Human Rights and the Law.

Fernand had a very productive fellowship with INCORE. In all he presented papers at 11 internationalmeetings. His term culminated with the 2000 Tip O’Neill lecture ‘Majority Rule(s) versus Minority Rights:Democracy and Ethnic Conflicts in Eastern Europe and Central Asia’, presented at the Association for theStudy of Nationalities Fifth Annual World Convention, ‘Identity and the State: Nationalism and Sovereigntyin a Changing World’, Colombia University, New York.

Wanda Wigfall-Williams’ research topic is ‘Methods of Identity Negotiation in Mixed Marriages and theirPotential for Mitigating Inter-Community Conflicts’. A native of Jamaica, she graduated from TempleUniversity with a degree in Psychology. She holds a Masters degree and is pursuing her doctorate in conflictanalysis and resolution from the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution (ICAR) at George MasonUniversity.

Wanda has extensive experience in conflict management with diverse populations at the inter-personal,community, national, and international levels especially in the areas of women, youth and adolescents. Sheis the author of numerous articles, white papers, technical reports, and a book. She is a contributor to academicpopular journals and magazines.

Wanda commenced her fellowship in February 2000 and has been busy conducting interviews with bothcouples in a mixed marriage in Northern Ireland and also with service providers. She has presented atseveral conferences and is currently planning an international workshop on this theme. We are lookingforward to reading the results of her very extensive study.

INCORE has benefitted enormously from the experience of all the Tip O’Neill fellows to date and throughthem we have extended our networks and enhanced our reputation both within Northern Ireland and at theinternational level.

Associated Projects

ARK (The Northern Ireland Social and PoliticalArchive) is a collaborative research initiative withQueen’s University currently in its pilot yearwhich aims to facilitate access to the social andpolitical knowledge base on Northern Ireland. Thetarget users of ARK are schoolchildren,policymakers, academics, voluntary groups,journalists and anyone with an interest in socialissues in Northern Ireland at the turn of thecentury. With the real possibility of a devolvedlegislative assembly in Northern Ireland, the needfor a resource like ARK is becoming clearer everyday. Inevitably social policy issues are comingunder fresh scrutiny across all areas, a fledglinglobbying culture has emerged and with it comesthe opportunity to stimulate public debate on theseissues.

ARK has three key components. The CAINfacility provides an extensive range of informationand source material on ‘the Troubles’ in NorthernIreland from 1968 to the present. With over 3million hits in the last year it is one of the keyreference sites for both local and internationalscholars writing on Northern Ireland. TheNorthern Ireland Life and Times Survey facilityhas established an extensive database on publicattitudes to a range of topical policy–relatedthemes. Run every year, the survey monitorsattitudes to devolution, pensions, education,gender issues and the environment to name but afew. With the emphasis on ease of access and theprovision of research support, secondary use ofthis data is becoming routine among staff andstudents at the two universities. The ESRC andmost of the major charities are funders. ORB,(the ‘online research bank’ currently underconstruction) maintains a database of summariesof social policy research focused on NorthernIreland.

Community Conflict Impact on Children(CCIC), is the project which followed from theCost of the Troubles Study again under thedirection of Dr. Marie Smyth, INCORE ResearchAssociate. This year they have been involved ina number of activities. In partnership with youngpeople in an organisation called the Joint Societyfor a Common Cause who were trained by CCIC,they conducted a survey of 1,000 young people.

The survey, Youthquest 2000, explored youngpeople’s attitudes to the peace process, politiciansand their experience of the Troubles amongst otherissues. The report of the survey was published byINCORE and is being presented by the youngpeople internationally.

CCIC also organised the visit to Northern Irelandof Olara Otunnu, Special Representative of theSecretary General of the United Nations onChildren and Armed Conflict. Mr Otunnu metwith a wide range of NGOs and visited schools,communities such as Shankill and New Lodge thathad been particularly affected by the Troubles andother projects. He also met with Assemblymembers. Mr. Otunnu was joint keynote speakerwith Mr. Peter Mandelson, Secretary of State forNorthern Ireland, at a conference in Belfastattended by over 100 young people from all overNorthern Ireland and 100 adults who work withyoung people. This conference was organised byCCIC and INCORE in conjunction with Savethe Children. CCIC invited to the conferenceinternational speakers from South Africa, Bosnia,and Colombia and a representative from theChildren and Armed Conflict Unit of theUniversity of Essex Children’s Law Centre, andprovided them with a series of site visits to a rangeof communities across Northern Ireland. Thereport of these site visits is published by CCICand the report of the conference is publishedjointly with Save the Children. CCIC is also inthe process of writing up the analysis of over 85in-depth interviews with children and youngpeople in Northern Ireland.

British Council Academic Link

between the University of Ibadan

and INCORE

This link agreement was signed between the twoinstitutions in 1996 and has proved mostsuccessful. In August, 1999, two Ibadancolleagues, Eghosa Osaghae and Prof. JohnYakubu of the Faculty of Law were participantsin an INCORE working group on the themeConstitution-making and conflict resolution insocieties in transition. Both gave presentations andcontributed distinctive viewpoints to thediscussion.

In this, the final year of the current link, Sue

Williams and Gillian Robinson of INCORE visited Nigeria where they participated in a workshop onIndigenous Approaches to Conflict Resolution. They also made field visits to sites of ethnic conflict andplanned collaborative research and programmes with colleagues at Ibadan. James King, from the School ofMedia and the Performing Arts of the University of Ulster also visited Ibadan in January 2000.

The most recent visitors to Northern Ireland as part of this long-term link were Matthew Akintayo andProfessor ‘Bayo Adekanye, whose visit coincided with a meeting of INCORE’s International AdvisoryGroup, of which ‘Bayo is a member. Ibadan’s Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, which has beenestablished as a result of the Link, is now in operation, under the direction of Professor Adekanye.

The link project permits visits which are themselves multi-purpose, bringing new viewpoints, staging jointconferences, enabling technical cooperation, and developing research ideas and joint publications. Theoutput of the Ibadan-INCORE link is more than one would ordinarily assume. Though INCORE has aglobal mandate, its programmes have little or no African input. Through this link, the organisation hassuccessfully established exchanges with colleagues in Africa. The University of Ibadan is popularly knownfor being a major centre of academic excellence in Africa, and is expanding its remit through its collaborationwith INCORE to address more comparative and international issues. Even after the end of this BritishCouncil link (April 2000), INCORE can always tap from the network of scholars it has established contactwith in Ibadan

A proposal for a new link concentrating on capacity building for research and policy interface in peace andconflict studies is currently under consideration by the British Council.

Exploring Conflict Resoltuion and Cross-Cultural Communication

INCORE represents the University of Ulster in an exciting initiative which also involves scholars from theUniversity of Missouri and the National University of Ireland-Galway. In September 1999, this 3-waypartnership received funding from the College and University Affiliation Program of Cultural Affairs Bureau(formerly USIA) of the U.S. Department of State to explore conflict resolution and cross-culturalcommunication, as a result of collaboration between scholars from the three partner universities. Thisfunding will enable a significant number of academics and community workers to travel between the 3participating institutions in order to engage in cooperative and collaborative research projects.

Policy and Evaluation Unit

Since the field of ethnic conflict and its resolutionis relatively new, it particularly suffers from gapsbetween theory, practice, and policy. In a varietyof settings of serious conflict, researchers,practitioners, and policy-makers struggle withissues and devise strategies often without knowingwhat is being learned or invented elsewhere. Inlate 1998, INCORE set up a Policy and EvaluationUnit to ensure that what is learned from researchand practice in conflict is incorporated into policyand programmes. In collaboration with otherorganisations, this Unit aims to bring to policy-makers new ideas from both research andpractice.

Evaluation is also key to policy making, aseffective evaluation can often help to determineconstructive approaches to conflict. However,conflict situations tend to be complex and rapidlychanging, and work to solve them is similarlydynamic and multi-faceted. It can then be difficultto determine the effectiveness of any oneintervention, to attribute change to any one amongmany active groups, and to determine whichactions have constructive effects. The difficultiesof evaluating results can, in turn, be an obstacleto the adoption or support of conflict resolutionor transformation. Consequently, the other keyfocus of the Unit is evaluation, both in its ownright, and as an integral part of better policy-making. The Unit has begun to gather resourcesand links on both policy and evaluation issues toresources and these are available onwww.incore.ulst.ac.uk/home/policy/ Listed onthis site are publications, videos, and links towebsites of interest, grouped under the key wordsPolicy and Evaluation.

The unit has been involved in a project involvingpolicy makers and academics interested in thepossibility of more creative approaches toConstitution Making in Divided Societies andthis was the topic under scrutiny in January 2000at the Palais des Nations, Geneva. This event wasa part of a joint programme by INCORE and theUniversity of Sussex, which was funded by theRockfeller Foundation. It built on an earliermeeting which took place in March 1999 inBellagio, Italy, that had brought together over 20constitution makers and experts from situationsof conflict around the world; and a further meetingwhich was held in Aberfoyle House inAugust1999. The January workshop took placeat the United Nations building in Geneva, tomaximise accessibility for representatives of UNdelegations and NGOs and thus enable them toconsider the topic in detail. The core of the

workshop was a set of three case studies ofconstitution-making in deeply-divided societies,presented by experts with practical experience ofcontemporary efforts to reach a constitutionalsettlement. These were Fiji, presented by DrSatendra Prasad of the University of the SouthPacific, Sri Lanka presented by Dr PakiosothySaravanamuttu, of the Centre for PolicyAlternatives in Colombo and Northern Ireland,presented by Professor Paul Arthur, of theUniversity of Ulster.

The workshop was devised to enable academicsand practitioners to compare agendas,perspectives and the current state of theirknowledge and also to seek ways of integratingthe study of constitutionalism with that of conflictresolution.

The Unit also carried out work addressing acomparative/international approach to issues ofStewarding, Mediation and Monitoring.INCORE, in collaboration with the CommunityDevelopment Centre, Democratic Dialogue,INNATE, Mediation Network, the Peace andReconciliation Group and Youth Action, organiseda series of three conferences on those topics. Theconferences were aimed at community groups andpeople involved in various aspects of public orderissues in Northern Ireland, and were addressedby a number of experts with internationalexperience, as well as by local speakers. Thefindings from these one-day events aredisseminated in a leaflet called STEWARDING,MEDIATION, MONITORING: What are they?How can I use them? which is available fromINCORE.

The first INCORE Summer School was organisedby the Unit and successfully recruited amongpolicy makers and practitioners both local andinternational. INCORE is also a partner in theReflections on Peace project, which isinvestigating best practice in conflictinterventions.

It is testimony to INCORE’s growing reputation,and its potential usefulness, that in 1999/2000requests for policy/practice consultations withINCORE on issues of conflict have come fromgovernments and organisations in Sri Lanka,Israel, Spain/the Basque Country, Cyprus, Russia,Macedonia, Indonesia and from the EuropeanUnion, the Commonwealth, UNESCO and theBritish Council. INCORE personnel have alsobeen frequent contributors on local andinternational news programmes, discussingspecific dimensions of conflict in NorthernIreland, and elsewhere.

The Ethnic Conflict Research Digest publishes peer reviews of recently published books, journal articlesand research papers on the dynamics and management of ethnic conflict. It aims to aid the dissemination ofnew research in a growing academic field. The Digest is aimed at both academics and policy-makers. It canact as a briefing tool for those working at the policy-making level of governments and non-governmentalorganisations who may not have the time to review the latest academic literature on ethnic conflict.

The Digest has now entered its third year. During this time editorship of the Digest has passed on from DrRoger MacGinty to Cathy Gormley-Heenan, and then more recently to Liam O’Hagan. With Vol: 3 Issue: 2currently at press, it is safe to say that the Digest has grown from strength to strength with every issue. Eachissue of the Digest is available in hard copy. A recent survey among Digest users produced a substantialresponse and a number of changes in design and content have been implemented as a result. Alternatively,the Digest can be downloaded in a PDF format for printing via Adobe Acrobat. Individual reviews are alsoavailable on the INCORE web pages before they appear in hard copy as the site is updated regularly. TheDigest is one of the more popular elements of the INCORE web site and can be found at http://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk/ecrd/

Ethnic Studies Network

It has been a year of quiet consolidation for the Ethnic Studies Network following the restructuring whichtook place last year, alongside the activity and excitement generated by the Moscow conference. Membershipcontinues to grow at a steady rate, and the diverse nature and the geographic spread of members ensures thatthe Network remains a great resource for INCORE and its associated institutions. Two Bulletins have beenproduced during the year, and these have been distributed to over 1000 people and institutions, more than700 of whom are ESN members. All Bulletins to date are currently available in PDF format on the INCOREweb site (http://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk/esn/index.html)

Traditionally every second ESN conference is held in NorthernIreland, so the fifth International Conference will once againbe hosted by INCORE in Aberfoyle House, from 27–30 June2001. The theme of the conference will be FROM VIOLENCETO POLITICS, and the Call for Papers has already been issued.We confidently expect to deliver an especially interestingprogramme as many of the participants in the ProgressingTowards Settlement project will be presenting their findingsduring the conference.

INCORE Web Site

The INCORE web site has been extensivelyrestructured during the year, and we are gratefulto our Computing Officer, Mike McCool for thenew design and layout, which we hope is easierto use.

Conflict Data Service

The INCORE website redesign has highlightedConflict Data Service (CDS) as one of the mainresources. The Conflict Data Service will also bemirrored on the United Nations University sitefrom autumn 2000.

We are grateful to Cathy Gormley-Heenan for thedevelopments on CDS initiated during her termof office and welcome on board the new ResearchOfficer responsible for content on the site, LiamO’Hagan. He can be contacted directly [email protected]. Liam is also acting as aco-ordinator on the University of Ulster’sChancellor’s Scholarship scheme. He issupervising a group of students who are workingon a project on ‘The Impact of the Internet onPolitical Movements’.

Country Guides:Work has continued to extend the number of newcountry guides for the CDS, with a particularfocus on those in Latin America. Existing guidesare also being updated, and the site now containsmaterial on 41 countries, from all six continents.Liam O’Hagan has been assisted in this task byMark Hoffman, an intern from Vassar College inNew York. Mark worked at INCORE in thesummer of 2000.

Thematic Guides:A number of new guides have been produced. TheINCORE guide to Internet sources on PoliticalLeadership in Divided Societies is available athttp://www.incore.ulst.ac.uk/cds/themes/leadership.html, and provides a range ofinformation from academic institutions, articlesand books relating to some of the issues aroundleadership and conflict. It also ties in with one ofINCORE’s newest research projects, ‘FromProtagonist to Pragmatist: Political Leadership inDivided Societies’.

INCORE Seminar SeriesThis year, INCORE successfully completed itsfirst series of internet seminars on ethnic conflictincluding contributions from academics, lawyersand researchers. In a pilot project with UniversityCollege Galway and the Queen’s University ofBelfast the seminars were broadcast live over theInternet using MeetingPoint software whichprovided an opportunity for interactive discussionbetween the audience at INCORE and those inGalway/Belfast. The series provided a forum forINCORE’s Tip O’Neill fellows and otherdistinguished speakers over the course of the year.It is hoped to expand this service in future.

The series provided a focus for research onmanaging pluralism from a comparativeperspective. Topics such as IdentityTransformations and Conflict; International Law,Human Rights and Minority Rights; Gender andDemocratisations; and the Internet and EthnicConflict were all included in this year’sprogramme.

Statistics:Use of the site continues to grow with an averageof 34,000 ‘hits’ per month and almost 260,000 inthe first 7 months of 2000. The CDS continues tobe the main attraction for those using the INC0REwebsite. Almost 45% of ‘hits’ are to CDSresources and in the same7 months of 2000, theCDS recorded over 110,000 ‘hits’.

CAINhttp://cain.ulst.ac.uk/

One of INCORE’s associated projects isresponsible for producing the CAIN (ConflictArchive on the INternet) web site. The CAINsite provides a wide range of information andsource material on ‘the Troubles’ in NorthernIreland from 1968 to the present. The site alsocontains information on Northern Ireland societyand politics in the region. The site is mainlytargeted at an academic audience but is freelyavailable to anyone with access to the Internet.In the past year there have been over 780,000visits to the site and these resulted in 4 million‘hits’. This high level of use is reflected in criticalacclaim with the site receiving a number ofcommendations.

Other Events

Tip O’Neill Fellowship Lectures1998-1999 Tip O’Neill Fellow, Ioannis Armakolas, now a PhD student at Cambridge University gave hislecture on the research he had conducted for the Fellowship on 16 December 1999. The topic he took for histalk was: Identity and conflict in globalising times: experiencing the global in areas raged by conflict. Areference to the case of the Bosnian Serbs. Dr Dennis McCoy of the Central Community Relations Unitresponded to the lecture, which was extremely well received by the audience of academics, post-graduatestudents and policy makers who were present.

Dr Fernand de Varennes delivered his Tip O’Neill Lecture during the Association for the Study of Nationalities(ASN) annual world convention at the University of Colombia in New York in April 2000. This majorinternational conference, entitled “Identity and the State: Nationalism and Sovereignty in a Changing World”,revolved around the questions of nationalism, sovereignty, and self-determination, and featured over 100panels. The session in which Dr de Varennes made his presentation, “ Majority Rule(s) versus MinorityRights: Democracy and Ethnic Conflicts in Eastern Europe and Central Asia”, was jointly chaired by GillianRobinson, INCORE’s Director of Research and ASN President David Crowe, with representatives of theAmerican Ireland Funds also in attendance. INCORE also presented a further panel in the conference,which featured John Darby, Roger Mac Ginty, Anna-Kaisa Kuusisto and Wanda Wigfall-Williams, our finalTip O’Neill Fellow for the time being.

From Protagonist to Pragmatist? Political Leadership in Divided SocietiesThis seminar, held in the Long Hall in Stormont on 10 April, the second anniversary of the signing of theBelfast Agreement, was attended by representatives from every political party, as well as by a small numberof academics. The seminar was sponsored by both David Trimble and Seamus Mallon, the First and DeputyFirst Ministers of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and formed part of the research currently being conductedby Cathy Gormley-Heenan on political leadership. The event was opened by Lord Alderdice, and by theNIO Minister, George Howarth. The international speakers were Professor Naomi Chazan, the Deputy Speakerof the Knesset, and Pravid Gordan, a member of the ANC and currently Commissioner of South Africa’sRevenue Service, and their presentations prompted a very lively question and answer session.

Professor Naomi Chazan addressing participants in the seminar on Political Leadership in Divided Societies.Seated at the table (from left to right) Prof. Mari Fitzduff, Prof. Paul Arthur and Pravid Gordan.

Tip O’Neill Fellow 1999-2000, Fernand de Varennes, pictured withINCORE’s Director, Mari Fitzduff and Research Director,

Gillian Robinson.

Sue Williams, Director of the Policy and Evaluation Unit, andGillian Robinson, Research Director, on a recent visit to

Ibadan, Nigeria

Members of INCORE’S International Advisory Group, March 2000

Participants in the INCORE Summer School, June 2000

Summer School

INCORE’s popular Summer School offered two

parallel workshops for people interested in the

management and resolution of ethnic and political

conflicts and who wished to extend or deepen their

understanding of particular aspects of such work.

Students from Europe, the United States, Eastern

Europe and the UK and Ireland, found the

Summer school to be a challenging but rewarding

learning experience.

During the Summer School, the 36 participantsheard not only from international workshopleaders, but also from local leaders who have beenworking on conflict issues in Northern Ireland.

The courses were:1. Public Order, Policing and Managing EthnicConflict- led by Neil Jarman of the CommunityDevelopment Centre and Dominic Bryan ofQueen’s University Belfast. This course focusedespecially on 3 aspects of this broad question:Legal Issues and Dilemmas, Initiatives by CivilSociety: Monitoring, Mediation, Marshalling andLearning from practice, from all kinds ofpractitioners. Neil and Dominic were joined onthe course by facilitators from the Belgiangendarmerie, the Metropolitan Police, andacademics from South Africa; and participantsattended from a wide range of countriesexperiencing problems of public order.

2. Psychological Approaches to ConflictResolution- led by Marc Howard Ross, BrynMawr College, Pennsylvania and Tony Gallagher,Queen’s University, Belfast. This course exploredsome of the psychological issues involved inethno-political conflict, including issues ofidentity and group identification, the learning ofprejudice, the psychology of blaming, and themobilisation of violence. The course also includedan introduction to human needs theory. Althoughthe teaching sessions were very intensive, bothlocal participants and those from overseas foundthe course very stimulating.

Right to HopeTowards the end of 1999, The Right to HopeIreland Committee received funding from theCommunity Relations Council which enabled itto set up an office in Derry/Londonderry andemploy a Project Coordinator. An active youthcommittee has now been formed to contribute tothe work of the Right to Hope Ireland Committeeof which INCORE is a founding member.

The project also received a grant from theLotteries Millennium Fund, which enabled groupsof young people from each of the six countieswithin Northern Ireland to organise and run aRight to Hope Millennium event of their own.Seeing Sense, the third Youth Gathering, fundedby Cooperation Ireland, will take place in countyLouth in September.

Interns and Researchers

Silke Bleicher, a German post-graduate student,spent some months in Aberfoyle House in Autumn1999, and was instrumental in researchingmaterial for the thematic and country guides onthe Conflict Data Service. Anna-Kaisa Kuusistoleft INCORE in May 2000 after spending almosta year with INCORE, conducting research for herPhD entitled Borderlands In The CityUnderstanding the meaning of localisedterritoriality in Northern Ireland. She returnedhome to take up a new post at her university, andwe wish her every success with both the job anddefending her thesis. Tim Fadgen, who workedwith Sue Williams on the Mediation, Monitoringand Stewarding workshops has also returned tothe States. Mark Hoffman, from Vassar Collegein New York, also spent some time with us as anintern – while working on his own dissertationon the Women’s Coalition in Northern Ireland,he also worked hard for INCORE, initially on theSummer School and subsequently on the ConflictData Service Country Guides.

INCORE’S WORK IN NORTHERN IRELAND AT A GLANCE

INCORE Summer School 2000INCORE’s Summer School offered two parallel workshops on the following topics:

1. Public Order, Policing and Managing Ethnic Conflict led by Neil Jarman and Dominic Bryan,Queen’s University, Belfast with representatives from South African and Belgian police forces.

2. Psychological Approaches to Conflict Resolution led by Marc Howard Ross, Bryn Mawr College,Pennsylvania and Tony Gallagher, Queen’s University, Belfast.

From Protagonist to Pragmatist? Political Leadership in Divided SocietiesThis conference was held in the Long Hall in Stormont and was attended by representatives fromevery political party. The conference was sponsored by both David Trimble MP and Seamus MallonMP. It was opened by Lord Alderdice, and by the Minister, George Howarth.

Monitoring: Action-learning in Northern Ireland and elsewhereThis conference took place in the Lough Neagh centre and focused on international and localapproaches to Monitoring. It included speakers from the United Nations, who trains human rightsmonitors for involvement in crisis situations and Northern Ireland human rights specialists.

Mediation: Action-learning in Northern Ireland and elsewhereSpeakers included Patricia Gonsalves of Mediation UK, Brendan McAllister of the MediationNetwork NI, Len Khalane from Cape Town, and Martin Collins of Pavee Point, Dublin.

Stewarding : Action-learning in Northern Ireland and elsewhereThis workshop focused both on public order events (demonstrations, parades) and on mediationactivities at community level.

INCORE Seminar SeriesThis year, INCORE successfully completed its first series of internet seminars on ethnic conflictincluding contributions from academics, lawyers and researchers. The series provided a forum forINCORE’s Tip O’Neill fellows and other distinguished speakers over the course of the year. Topicssuch as Identity Transformations and Conflict; International Law, Human Rights and MinorityRights; Gender and Democratisations; and the Internet and Ethnic Conflict were all included inthis year’s programme.

Associated projectsINCORE has also hosted the work of the Cost of the Troubles project (now CCIC); the mediationwork of Roy Magee; and the cross community political reconciliation work of Norman Porter. Inaddition, many of its staff serve as resource people for local initiatives for example: the LondonderryPartnership Board Inclusion Group, St Columb’s Park House Reconciliation Centre, the Derry/Londonderry Community Relations Resource Centre, the Community Relations Training Consortium,the Vicitm’s Memorail Trust, NIVTand the Peace and Reconciliation Group. INCORE has alsobeen the long term home for CAIN (Conflict Archive on the Internet) which is a comprehensiveguide to Northern Ireland politics and the NI conflict. ARK, which encompasses CAIN, the NorthernIreland Life and Times Survey and the Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive has recentlybeen established as a joint project of the University of Ulster and Queen’s University and will bebased in INCORE.

INCORE Staff

This year INCORE has been joined by three newresearch officers, Dr Helen Brocklehurst, Mr LiamO’Hagan and Dr Billy Leonard, and by Mrs HelenQuinn as Clerk Typist.

Ms Sue Williams left INCORE to continue herinternational consultancy work, and a new Policyand Evaluation Director will take up the post inOctober 2000.

Professor Mari Fitzduff

� Director

Research Interests Include:

Policy and practice implications of ethno-politicalresearch.Transdisciplinary approaches to ethno-politicalresearch.Public policy in divided societies.

Mari Fitzduff is currently Professor of ConflictStudies, and Director of INCORE.

In addition to her work in Northern Ireland, MariFitzduff has also worked as a programmeconsultant on projects addressing conflict in theMiddle East, in Sri Lanka, in the Basque countryand in the CIS States. She is also a board memberof many national and international institutionsworking in the field of conflict management.

Gillian Robinson

� Research DirectorDirector ARK (Northern Ireland Social andPolitical Archive)


Social AttitudesResearch MethodologiesWomen and WorkSocial Policy in Divided Societies

Gillian Robinson received her first degree inSociology and Social Administration from theUniversity College Dublin and subsequentlycompleted a Masters in Social Policy at theUniversity of Ulster. She worked in a variety ofresearch positions in both the Republic of Irelandand in Northern Ireland before joining theteaching staff at the University of Ulster in 1993.She has been involved with INCORE since itsformation and was appointed Research Director

in 1997. She is responsible for initiating newprojects, securing funding and overall directionof projects.

Mike McCool

� Computer Officer


Interface Design Issues. Interactive computergraphics in particular visualisation and directmanipulation. Virtual Reality and its potentialapplication in the areas of education and training.Multimedia applied in the area of public accessinformation systems. Plugging all of the aboveinto the Internet.

Mike’s First degree is in Computer Science andhe is currently undertaking an MSc in Computingand Design. He has worked on several majorEuropean research projects in Informatics overthe last 10 years, and joined INCORE in late 1997

Lyn Moffett

� Project Liaison Officer - INCORE� Co-ordinator - Ethnic Studies Network� Bulletin Editor - Ethnic Studies Network

Lyn is a graduate of Manchester University, whobegan working for the Ethnic Studies Network in1991 and subsequently provided administrativesupport for INCORE’s feasibility study. Sincethe ratification of INCORE in 1993, she hascarried out many duties within the organisation.As well as acting as co-ordinator of the EthnicStudies Network and editing the ESN Bulletin,Lyn also manages INCORE’s programme ofconferences and events, coordinates thepublication strategy, and is responsible for theintern and Fellowship programmes.

Catherine Sharkey

� Administrative Officer (Acting)

Catherine holds a first class honours degree inBusiness Studies from the University of Ulsterand is currently acting-up in the post ofAdministrative Officer at INCORE. She hasworked in a variety of environments includingindustries such as banking, insurance,manufacturing and in the health service.

Academic interests include e-commerce andfinancial management.

Cathy Gormley-Heenan

� Research Officer


� Political Leadership in Divided Societies� International Mediation� Negotiation Analysis� Conflict and the Internet

Cathy received her first degree in Political Sciencefrom Queens University Belfast in 1994. She holdsan MPhil in Modern Middle East Studies fromOxford University and was a 1996/97 KennedyScholar at the JFK School of Government andPublic Policy at Harvard, where she specialised inInternational Mediation and Conflict Resolution.She began working for INCORE as a ResearchOfficer on the Conflict Data Service in August1997. Since then, she has also acted as Editor ofthe Ethnic Conflict Research Digest, and iscurrently working as a Research Officer on aProject entitled ‘From Protagonist to Pragmatist:Political Leadership in Divided Societies.

Helen Brocklehurst



Ethnic conflict, security, children’s politicalsocialisation, education, identity and genderstudies. She will be working on a projectinvestigating the development and implementationof public policies in Northern Ireland and SouthAfrica, focusing primarily on victim’s commissionsand policing.

Helen joined INCORE as a Research Officer inFebruary 2000. She has a first degree inInternational Relations and a PhD in InternationalRelations from the University of WalesAberystwyth on comparative cases of children’sinvolvement in conflict.

Liam O’Hagan


Liam began working as a Research Officer atINCORE in February 2000. He holds a first classhonours degree in Politics from the Queen’sUniversity of Belfast and an Msc (Econ) inInternational Politics from the University of Walesat Aberystwyth. His research interests includeethnic studies and the issues arising out of outside

intervention(s) into conflict. In this regard he hasresearched the field of humanitarian politics, (withparticular reference to the ICRC and Médecins sansFrontières), and had a number of articles published.Liam will be working on the Conflict Data Serviceand editing the Ethnic Conflict Research Digest. Heis also researching on the Demilitarisation in NorthernIreland Project alongside Dr Corinna Hauswedell ofthe Bonn International Center for Conversion.

Billy Leonard


Billy joined INCORE in August 2000 takingresponsibility for research work on the ‘Managementof Diversity’ project. This is aimed at policy-makersand politicians who will have responsibility formaking and implementing policy, which advancesdiversity matters in society.

He has BA and MA degrees in Theology and Religionand a DPhil (Politics and Philosophy) from theUniversity of Ulster. His doctoral research was onethnic identity, difference and the violence of the‘troubles’. He is very interested in how people /groups emphasise ‘difference’, utilise history andbeliefs in so doing and the problems this brings todiversity matters.

Roisin O’Hagan

� Secretary

Roisin moved back to Derry after spending nearly 10years in London and Manchester. She joined Incorein April 1999 and has a wide range of experience in aPA/Secretarial background. She is currently studyingpart-time at Magee College for her BA Hons inBusiness Studies Degree.

Helen Quinn

� Clerk Typist

Helen graduated in 1986 and taught in Zimbabwe for3 years. She has worked in Careers Information andGuidance in universities in Scotland and NorthernIreland for the last 5 years. She joined INCORE inJanuary 2000.

INCORE also works closely with two associatemembers of staff – Dr Marie Smyth, who is Directorof the Community Conflict Impact on Children(CCIC), and Dr Martin Melaugh who is projectmanager of Conflict Archive on the Internet (CAIN).

Board of Directors

Professor Lord Smith of Clifton ofMountsandel (Chairman)Vice Chancellor, University of Ulster

Mr David Cheal (Company Secretary)Director of Corporate Services, University ofUlster, Coleraine

Mrs. Mary Clark-Glass CBECouncil Member, University of Ulster

Dr. Peider KonzHead of Europe Office, United NationsUniversity

Professor Fabian Monds CBEPro-Vice Chancellor & Provost elect MageeCollege campus, University of Ulster

Professor Peter RoebuckPro-Vice Chancellor & Provost Colerainecampus, University of Ulster

ObserversProfessor Terry O’KeefeDean, Humanities, University of Ulster

Gillian RobinsonResearch Director, INCORE, University ofUlster, Magee Campus

Sue WilliamsPolicy & Evaluation Director, INCORE,University of Ulster, Magee Campus

Professor Mari FitzduffDirector, INCORE, University of Ulster, MageeCampus

International Advisory Group

Professor Bayo AdekanyeCEPACS, University of Ibadan, Nigeria

Dr Eileen Babbitt,Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, TuftsUniversity, MA

Professor Kevin Boyle,Human Rights Centre, University of Essex,UK

Mrs Mary Clark-Glass CBE,Member of Council, University of Ulster

Professor Mari Fitzduff,Director, INCORE

Dr Maurice Hayes,Member of the Irish Senate, Member of PattenCommission on Policing,Representative of the American Ireland Funds

Mr John Hume,MP, MEP and Nobel Peace Prize winner 1998

John Paul Lederach,Conflict Analysis and Transformation Program,Eastern Mennonite University,

Dr Patricia Lewis,Director, UNIDIR, Geneva

Colonel Oliver A. K. Macdonald,Permanent Mission of Ireland to the OSCE,Vienna, Austria

Professor Elizabeth Meehan,Dean of Politics, Queen’s University, Belfast

Professor Rodolpho Stavenhagen,El Colegio de Mexico and Member of UNUCouncil

Mr Cedric Thornberry,former Assistant Secretary-General of the UnitedNations and head of UNPROFOR

Dr Valery Tishkov,Director, Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology,Russian Academy of Science

Dr Ngaire Woods,Fellow in Politics, Oxford University, UK

Funders

INCORE is a limited company with charitable status and as such welcomes inquiries from CharitableTrusts, Foundations and other funders who are interested in promoting conflict resolution and abatingethnic conflict.

INCORE’s core operation, research and training programmes, fellowships, conferences and other eventshave been made possible this year through financial support from the following:

� British Academy� Community Relations Council (CRC)� Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC)� European Union’s Physical, Social and Environmental Programme� Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust� Northern Ireland Voluntary Trust (NIVT)� Rockefeller Foundation� The Central Community Relations Unit (CCRU)� The Ireland Funds� United Nations University� University of Ulster

In addition there are other donors who wish to remain anonymous.

Financial and management accounts as at year end can be obtained after November each year, on requestfrom:

Catherine SharkeyINCOREAberfoyle HouseNorthland RoadDerry/LondonderryBT48 7JA.

Tel: 02871 375504Fax: 02871 375510Email: [email protected]

ACCOUNTS

Income and Expenditure Account for the year ended 31 July 2000

Year ended Year ended

31 July 2000 31 July 1999

£ £

INCOME

Funding Council Grants 38,625 104,627

Research Grants and Contracts 226,038 331,821

Associated Project - ARK 28,497 _

Other Operating Income 176,599 194,580

Interest Receivable 10,756 16,994

480,515 648,022

EXPENDITURE

Staff Costs 312,451 325,180(including project staff)

Other Operating Expenses 224,775 281,959

537,226 607,139

incore annual report 1999-2000

Documents