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Economic Assistance, Developmentand Peacebuilding: The Role of the IFI and EU

Peace II Fund in Northern Ireland

SEAN BYRNE, CHUCK THIESSEN, EYOB FISSUH,CYNTHIA IRVIN AND MARCIE HAWRANIK

This article examines the images of 98 study participants interviewed during

the summer of 2006 and a public opinion survey of 1,023 adults conducted in

October 2006 with regards to the role of the European Union (EU) Peace II

Fund and the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) in community development,

reconciliation, and sustainable peacebuilding. The perceptions of community

group leaders, funding agency civil servants, and development officers are

explored with regards to the role of both funds in building the peace dividend

in Northern Ireland. Further, the article explains the importance of

community development and cross-community contact through joint

economic, peace and justice, and social development projects.

External economic aid is used to address economic deprivation and structural

inequality in the aftermath of political violence.1 It is a necessary component of any

successful intervention in ethnopolitical conflicts as it can provide communities with

both human and material resources and these resources in turn build self-confidence

and encourage an environment dominated by politics rather than violence.2

Economic aid, if targeted correctly in regions that have experienced conflict, has

the potential to reduce violence, encourage negotiations and peaceful settlement of

disputes, and pave the path toward a peaceful future.3 However, economic aid alone

cannot resolve ethnopolitical conflicts and international economic assistance

provided in the aftermath of protracted ethnopolitical conflicts can actually reinforce

divisions and increase existing violence. This article reviews the impact the

International Fund for Ireland (IFI) and the European Union (EU) Peace II Fund has

had on Northern Ireland in its effort to build sustainable peace.

Ethnopolitical conflicts are the extreme political polarization of the contending

parties, stereotyping of the outgroup and feelings of intense animosity and long-

standing hostility between contending groups.4 These conflicts are also

characterized by long-standing ethnic myths that are transmitted transgenerationally

and exaggerated by ethnic leaders. Ethnic leaders use this awareness of ethnic myths

to hold their faction together and mobilize them into action. The groups

socioeconomic interests are often described by political elites as cultural or religious

rights, which can further mobilize the group to rebel against political, economic, and

Civil Wars, Vol.10, No.2 (June 2008), pp.106124ISSN 1369-8249 print/ISSN 1743-968X online

DOI: 10.1080/13698240802062663 q 2008 Taylor & Francis

cultural marginalization. Ethnic leaders often project nationalist sentiments in order

to prevent internal divisions in their group and create a sense of belonging.

Conflicting ethnic groups are motivated by exclusion from the political process,

economic resources, and threats to their identity, which can motivate the group to

resort to violence.5 As ethnic conflicts transition from violence to peace addressing

these issues must be an integral part of the peacebuilding process.

Economic aid is used in the aftermath of political violence to deal with structural

inequality and economic deprivation. The purpose of economic assistance in post-

conflict peacebuilding contexts is to provide resources in order to empower and

instill hope into local communities to rebuild socioeconomic infrastructure, bring

different factions of people together, reduce the support for violence, promote social

inclusion, and address economic inequality.6 Economic aid can be used to fund

projects such as humanitarian relief for infectious diseases, cross-border conflicts,

natural disasters, victims of terrorist attacks and famine, as well as initiatives that

focus on demining, reintegration of combatants, and the establishment of effective

judicial systems and the setting up of a democratic framework for fair and free

elections. It is hoped that economic growth will spillover into peace.7 Economic

aid is a critical component of any post-conflict peacebuilding intervention; however,

it should be used in conjunction with other peacebuilding activities if it is to foster a

lasting and endurable peace.8

Societies emerging from protracted conflicts are not only in need of a

restructuring of economic policies in the private and public sector, but also a

reformation of relationships between social or ethnic groups, psychosocial healing,

and reconciliation.9 Such a holistic process of conflict transformation and

peacebuilding depoliticizes socioeconomic problems in a sustainable structure that

involves all stakeholders in a collective decision making process.10 Cross-

community projects that focus on collaborative and superordinate economic goals

can establish constructive interactions between previously feuding groups and has

the potential to strengthen shared identities across ethnopolitical cleavages. 11

Economic aid on its own is not a panacea to change perceptions, attitudes, or

actions within disputing groups of people. Negative destructive attitudes,

perceptions, and destructive stories of the other group are deeply embedded in a

societys culture and structure and the prevalence of ethnopolitical conflicts has led

conflict resolution practitioners to expand their techniques to include interactive

storytelling, dialogue groups, and problem-solving workshops to tackle the issues

that fuel these conflicts.12 Practitioners have discovered that these innovative

techniques are most effective in a coordinated effort.13 If targeted correctly,

economic aid linked to other intervention strategies can stimulate cross-cultural

contact in an effort to decrease fear and the common enemy images often portrayed

of the other group, as the legacies of hatred are not overcome this easily.

This study uses a distinct methodology yielding qualitative (98 interviews) and

quantitative (public opinion survey of 1,023 adults) interpretations to explore the

relationships between economic development, intergroup cooperation, and conflict

transformation and peacebuilding initiatives. There were a number of challenges

PEACEBUILDING IN NORTHERN IRELAND 107

interviewing these grassroots citizens. For example, people are suspicious of the

intentions of outsiders and what researchers will do with the completed interviews.

Consequently, complete anonymity was guaranteed to each of the study participants

and their names are not used in this article. They were also guaranteed that the tapes

would be destroyed after transcription, which they were. The tapes were transcribed

verbatim and the respondents words are cited in their original form.

ECONOMIC DEPRIVATION AND THE NORTHERN IRELAND CONFLICT

During the early twentieth century, Northern Ireland experienced an uneven wave of

modernization creating advanced and unadvanced regions and groups with Belfast

as the core of modernization and the rest of the region as the periphery. Shipbuilding

and linen production for the British market were centered in the industrial heartland

of Belfast as the agricultural periphery served the needs of Belfasts industrial

economy. Thus, production in the periphery is subordinate to the needs of the core

and peripheral areas are forced into a pattern of economic specialization and

dependence.14 This cultural division of labor leads to the formation of classes based

upon political orientations in the periphery creating a situation of internal

colonialism. The internal elite in the periphery can then unite behind common

political and cultural beliefs preventing national unity, which results in an

economically disadvantaged group of people in the periphery that can mobilize in

reaction to the exploitation.15 Even though some of the communities do indeed live

side by side in Northern Irelands urban and rural areas the division of labor created

a poorer periphery west of the Bann and an industrialized powerhouse in the core

area East of the Bann.

Thus, Northern Irelands infrastructure was devastated from decades of conflict,

which damaged the local economy and ensured a high level of inequality between

the Unionists and Nationalists in areas such as employment.16 The same

marginalized and excluded areas that were economically disadvantaged in the

early 1970s continue to be extremely disadvantaged over 30 years later. For

example, East and West Belfast, the Bogside and Creggan in Derry as well as South

Armagh and South Western Fermanagh and Tyrone continue to feel the effects of

economic disadvantage. The problem of unemployment and the ratio of

unemployment between Unionists and Nationalists were specifically targeted in

the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA). However, the statistics indicate that the

unemployment rate in Northern Ireland has decreased dramatically and the rate of

unemployment of both Unionists and Nationalists is slowly decreasing.17

Northern Irelands economy is much more complex that these statistics suggest;

while the unemployment record has decreased this has not impacted the groups of

marginalized and excluded people and regions that need the improvement the most.

There are people that are undetectable from the traditionally unemployed and

employed statistical indicators illustrating the need for government policies to focus

on this hidden unemployed group of people.18 Nationalists have consistently higher

rates of economic inactivity than Unionists. Nationalists also tend to have higher

CIVIL WARS108

levels of unemployment; lower levels of economic activity and a higher proportion

reside in working class neighborhoods devastated with lack of jobs.19 Throughout

the Troubles the economic marginalization of the Nationalist community

contributed in part to their opposition to the British government. For example,

David Smith and Donald Chambers found that 23 percent of Sinn Fein supporters

indicated that unemployment was the biggest problem in Northern Ireland while 68

percent also chose Nationalist responses.20

From 1922 to 1972, Britain remained outside of Northern Irish politics and did

not address the underlying economic and political roots of the conflict. There was a

decline in major industries which led Northern Ireland to depend on financing from

Britain and the public sector. Before the 1968 outbreak of the Troubles, Britains

economic negligence of Northern Irelands working classes leaves Britain partly

responsible for the feelings of alienation, distrust, and sectarianism felt in both

communities.21 Today Northern Ireland has one of the most subsidized economies

in the EU. Economic deprivation was a critical component in sustaining support for

rival Loyalist and Republican paramilitaries.22 As McGarry and OLeary argue, it is

clear that paramilitary activity in Northern Ireland has been concentrated in deprived

areas. . .[and] Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party get disproportionate

support from the underprivileged.23 To help societies recover from historical

violent trauma; it is necessary for economic cooperation to spillover into the

political and cultural arenas to deescalate the intensity of protracted ethnonational

conflict.24

Thus, the IFI and EU Peace II Fund are providing economic assistance to address

the many structural, social, and interactional problems facing Northern Ireland. Both

programs were established to support peacebuilding and economic regeneration

within Northern Ireland and the Border Area. The IFI was established shortly after

the Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA) in 1986 to cultivate greater cooperation between

the British and Irish governments, and to begin to address the underlying economic

causes of the conflict. The AIA aimed to promote social and economic development

in the parts of Northern Ireland that were most unstable and devastated by the

conflict. Economic development was viewed as a means to building peace. The AIA

created the IFI and received contributions from the United States (US), the EU,

Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. From 1989 to 1994 the EU contributed

US$18.3m per year, increasing its annual donations in 1994 to US$24.4m, thus

becoming the largest donor to the fund in response to the 1994 paramilitary cease-

fires.25 Advocates of the IFI believe that through the creation of jobs and economic

opportunity a solution to the political conflict can be achieved.26

The EU also created in 1994 a special economic taskforce designed to promote

community dialogue and to strengthen and encourage existing political agreements

with economic incentives and support. The outcome of these goals created the

special EU Support Program for Peace and Reconciliation in Ireland or Peace I Fund

which was established on 6 April 1995 to correct unemployment, social and political

exclusion, and build upon the already existing momentum for the creation

of stability, peace and reconciliation in the region. Both Peace I and Peace II


(19972006) aim to do this by increasing economic development and employment,

encouraging urban and rural regeneration, developing cross-border cooperation, and

expanding social inclusion. Both Peace Funds aim to achieve the expansion of social

exclusion by empowering the grassroots and providing hope, which will motivate

people to change and progress.27

The Northern Ireland Partnership Board divided the program into two phases. In

1996, the Peace I Fund allowed each of the 26 partnerships to file their action plans

and with consultation a strategic plan. In 1996, the programs budget set aside 26

percent to fund a first round of projects. Peace I attracted over 31,000 applications

and only 15,000 were approved. Consequently, 66 percent of the budget was set

aside to prepare for an increase of projects with the Peace II Fund. In 1997, Peace

IIs priority was funding socially inclusive projects and 65 percent of resources were

directed to the most deprived areas. The criteria for the majority of the allocations

were based upon their low cost, and potential to help women, young people, and

former political prisoners. Seven projects over 50,000 were funded that were were

selected as employment and community regeneration projects.28

Consequently, a large peace industry has evolved in Northern Ireland, and

community groups have a financial interest in securing further funding from Peace

III. Although the contribution of IFI and EU money is miniscule compared to that

coming from the British government, they are important as part of constructively

engaging Unionists and Nationalists in positive interactions to forge a civil society.29

Peace III is focusing attention on the larger and more successful cross-community

projects in terms of providing more jobs, and in building sustainable economic

development and peace.

During the summer of 2006 the first author interviewed 98 people in Belfast,

Derry, Dublin, and Counties Cavan, Derry, Donegal, Fermanagh, Monaghan, and

Tyrone. From June through August he interviewed civil servants managing both

funds, community group leaders who received a grant from one or both funds, and

development officers working for both funding agencies. In addition, the first author

developed a public opinion survey and commissioned Millward Brown Ulster to run

it in October 2006 to assess public perceptions of both funds. A representative

sample of 1,023 adults (18 ) was interviewed normally in their homes at 50sampling points throughout Northern Ireland. The data set is unique and has not been

published before now. The survey focuses on public awareness of development and

peacebuilding. We begin with an overview of the role of economic assistance in the

peacebuilding process in Northern Ireland through the images of the 98 study

participants. Next we explore the quantitative data with respect to age, class, gender,

and religious affiliation. We conclude by exploring the findings as they relate to the

role of economic assistance in building the peace dividend in Northern Ireland.

A definite trend since the early 1990s has been the burgeoning increase in the

number of community groups interested in addressing conflict related tensions in

Northern Ireland.30 Many of these newly established community groups have been

supported by economic aid from the IFI or EU Peace I and II programs. The

economic aids intent is to facilitate the empowerment of local community groups in

CIVIL WARS110

initiating project work focused on grassroots-level community issues. The

perceptions of the 98 respondents regarding project works success in achieving

peacebuilding and community development goals are the focus of this study.

Analysis of the 98 study participants interview narratives revealed three broad

themes. First, participants voiced perceptions of international economic aids

inherent suitability for development and peacebuilding tasks in Northern Ireland.

Second, community group leaders described their organizations potential to

successfully engage with local communities in sustainable development and

authentic peacebuilding. Third, community group leaders and civil servants who

manage both funds provided numerous descriptive stories illustrating the funded

project works success in development and peacebuilding.

PERCEPTIONS OF THE ROLE OF ECONOMIC AID IN PROMOTING

PEACEBUILDING AND DEVELOPMENT

This study examines perceptions of the role of the IFI and EU Peace II Fund in

furthering peacebuilding and community development goals in Northern Ireland.

The following discussion reveals surprisingly diverse beliefs regarding the role of

economic aid in post-conflict contexts such as Northern Ireland. Some of the

respondents perceived international economic aid as critical for both development

and the establishment of a milieu allowing reconciliation to flourish. Other

respondents, however, were deeply suspicious of the economic aids efficacy. They

perceived the funding as hindering much needed development, and perhaps worst of

all, as reinforcing deep-seated sectarianism between Unionists and Nationalists.

Responses by several community group leaders elucidated the role international

economic aid has assumed in the economic and social development of Northern Irish

society. Speaking to the benefits of perceived economic development, one Derry

community group leader portrayed the funding as giving his conflict-affected

community an economic boost. Moreover, a Border Area community group leader

from Belturbet, Co. Cavan explains further:

But I do believe that in terms of general economic regeneration it has done a

lot. If there wasnt a peace program we would. . .if you look at the likes of

Belturbet, it would be a very different town. It would be still very much run

down so I do think in terms of economic regeneration it has done a lot.

Speaking to the perceived social development benefits of economic aid, several

participants focused on individual and community empowerment and the breaking

of generational cycles of unemployment and poverty.

Three categories of development envelop many of the interview narratives. First,

economic aid has provided employment opportunities through job creation activities

and economic stimulation. A Derry community group leader explains as follows:

But I think what the IFI money has done in particular is created the option of

employment.


For example, a Derry community group leader recognizes the funding structures

have allowed thousands of people to gain employment within community groups

conducting peace related project work.

Look at the number of people regardless of what impact a project has in itself,

the number of people that are employed on peace funded projects, it is a

significant cash injection into community.

Further, funding monies have been widely channeled into job training activities

allowing Northern Irelands employed and unemployed to gain qualifications

leading to improved employment. Describing the numeric success of her training

project work, a Belfast community group leader explains in the following manner:

So theres a couple of thousand people and more who have got their first

qualification ever possibly through the availability of the peace program, and I

think its a very important contribution to economic development.

Improving employment rates in a post-conflict zone allows for social development

on several fronts. A Derry community group leader describes funding as empowering

individual workers through training and increased employment opportunities. Hence,

If you got a job, you were likely to be somebodys employee and you were

micro managed from nine to five doing what you are told to do. The Peace

funds have given people more flexibility and have empowered them to take a

bit more control of their own work time and destiny.

For example, a Belfast community group leader described how an unemployed

mother established herself socially in the community as a result of receiving

training.

There was one lady who did one of our courses. It was held in the school. . .but

through gaining that confidence in her skills and understanding the way the

school worked and all of that, she now sits on the Board of Governors. She has

taken a real social role in her own community by sitting on the board of

governors. And, aspirations when one of her children leave school she would

like to come back and train as a classroom assistant.

Internationally funded community projects in the employment sector have also

served to provide hope and options to the next generation. One Derry community

group leader described the effects of increased employment opportunities as

follows:

Creating the opportunity you have the potential to address poverty, and not

only do you have the impact to address unemployment very directly. . . .But it

also creates in communities the sense that there is work there. For many years

in these communities there was no sense of anybody being employed, so there

was no motion of people leaving their home to go to work. . . . Its like role

CIVIL WARS112

models almost, where people in employment . . . there is something to be

achieved, it isnt just despair,

Access to jobs creates a culture of hope as community members model work habits

to the coming generation. A South Belfast community group leader explained the

situation further:

We see it, in terms of economic generational unemployment in themost socially

deprived areas, particularly in Belfast. Its grandfathers, fathers, sons have no

employment, through various reasons, and the conflict being one of them.

Looking at it we can then impact and stop that generational underachievement

by getting people skill to help their children. . . . We are talking about people

who are at the margins of the margins, with no skills or very little skills and are

now in a process of skills development and working into employment.

Second, international funding has served to initiate needed structural change

within Northern Irelands statutory institutions. For example, funding has shaped the

delivery of public educational programming aswell as improved pre-school and after-

school childcare accessibility, and aidmonies have been used in police service reform

and development. A Belfast community group leader describes a unique diversity-

training program jointly held with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and

the An Garda Sochana the Republic of Irelands national police service. So,

There is a big change in perception of police forces as well and that has

taken time. I think things are gradually changing and are much more

acceptable. I was in a project which was European funded as well and it was an

interesting one and I thought it was brilliant, it was the Police Service of

Northern Ireland and the Garda in the South coming together on diversity

training, it was excellent. We went away for three days with the police forces

and a whole range of community groups, disability groups, and gender groups,

a whole range.

Post-conflict governments require a period of transition and focused capacity

building attention.31 In Northern Ireland, the international funding bodies have

essentially led the way in initiating peacebuilding activities while government

parties struggle to build unity of vision. A Co. Cavan community group leader

describes the process in more detail:

Definitely the EU have shown the road forward their peacebuilding has

shown the way forward. I mean I have done things here and I get in touch with

the statutory agencies, and they are not covering that sort of thing. They havent

the personnel, they havent the people, and howwell do they know the problems

on the ground. It has allowed people to be on the ground in communities and see

face to face be it the interface of Protestant or Catholic, the face of

communities, the face of people in need.


Third, international economic aid is perceived as crucial in much needed

infrastructure development in Northern Ireland. A Border Area church leader from

Co. Monaghan explains as follows:

I still believe that the EU funding and the IFI have contributed enormously to

improving the quality of life, the quality of infrastructure, I am talking about

housing, roads and all the basic infrastructure, because there was a huge deficit

at the level of basic infrastructure in the South particularly and there was need

for massive investment.

For example, along the Southern Border in numerous Protestant and Catholic areas,

community halls have been refurbished or rebuilt with funding monies. A Cavan

town, Co. Cavan community group leader describes improvements within Protestant

communities:

. . . now there are more facilities there for the Protestant people in that they are

opening up old halls of their own and bringing in Catholic activities to some

extent, inviting some groups in.

As a central gathering point, community halls play an important role in both

Protestant and Catholic communities as a resource for dances, social gatherings,

bingos, sports and the arts.

As a further example, a Derry community group leader describes the

peacebuilding benefits resulting from the development of a local soccer pitch:

It may be a more profitable use of time to go and play football on a new astro

turf pitch rather than kicking your peer but from a different persuasion down

the street.

Development of sports facilities can provide for the initiation of cross-community

contact as Protestant and Catholic youth come together to play soccer, basketball

and volleyball, etc.

However, other interview respondents were quite tentative in giving credit

to international economic aid for any perceived development in Northern

Irish society. Recognizing that Northern Ireland has been a recipient of generous

international funding for over ten years, several participants lamented

disappointing levels of conspicuous change or transformation. A Belfast

community group leaders discouraged comment is representative of several

other participants:

I really dont think its done a huge amount. And that is being honest, and not

to say after spending ten years at this, its quite a depressing thought, having

invested ten years in this. Maybe thats too jaundiced a view of it.

Perhaps reflecting Lederachs view that attaining a desired future in a conflict

situation requires generational thinking,32 one Belfast community group leader

believes Northern Ireland is decades away from true transformation:

CIVIL WARS114

Its been said that it takes us as long to move out of the conflict as the conflict

lasted. Alright we have had thirty years of Trouble there, it stopped 1996,

1998, to get that, you know ten years, Ive twenty years to go. . . . But I

sometimes wonder how much effect we are going to see in the end of all this,

out of whats been invested financially and also in terms of all our efforts to do

with what we have been doing for the past ten years.

There seems to be a growing recognition of how the inherent short-term nature of

post-conflict aid will naturally be dissonant with long-term development of society.

Several sharp criticisms of internationally funded development work were

evident in the interview narratives. First, some participants argued that international

funding had missed the mark and had failed to accomplish its intended purposes. A

Belfast community group leader noted widespread cynicism regarding funded

project work:

And theres also a great cynicism thats out there, because people look around

and see where the peace monies are going, there is a fair amount of cynicism,

as to the real impact of thats having in terms of building better bridging

relationships across the communities and things like that.

Another Belfast community worker perhaps identifies a root cause for the funding-

induced cynicism.

What it has initiated is a culture of, Can we get money for this? which is

something different. So the value system and the honorable value system of

the peace program with IFI needs to be focused on because thats the kind of

bedrock on which we are going to build a new society.

Access to the large funding pot may have directed the attention of development

efforts towards money and attaining adequate funding and away from people.

Second, the interview responses highlighted a perceived tension between

grassroots practitioners and both funding agencies senior policymakers. A Co.

Donegal community leader had this to say:

I often wonder the whole thing about funding you would be better off with a

pot of resources with people coming up with their own script for this, because

the script that we have doesnt reflect realities.

Funding hierarchies are perceived as dictating the script for post-violence

development processes with those closest to the action feeling disempowered and

voiceless. For example, some Border Area community group leaders felt pressured

by funding criteria to conduct excessive development work in particular towns or

villages while other deserving towns were left untouched.

Perceived as further suffering grassroots involvement in development processes

were excessive bureaucratic controls. A Derry community group leader blamed the

funding agencies complicated application and quarterly reporting bureaucratic

procedures for stifling community-level voices in determining funded project work.


My view is that there should be a mechanism in there which would cut away

the bureaucracy and see that there is good ideas coming from the different

communities.

A Belfast community group leader commented on the growing inaccessibility to

bureaucratic services:

Its got so complicated that you have to work through all this bureaucracy; the

idea of lifting the phone is gone for all the communities.

Perhaps most worrisome, in that it possibly indicates widespread detachment

from reconciliation processes, is the perceived widespread ignorance of

international economic aid at the grassroots level. A Co. Monaghan community

group leader explained this factor in the following way:

We have got a good deal of funding, but if you went down and did a box thing

of people in the street and asked about the IFI, they wouldnt know what you

are talking about. Peace and reconciliation? They wouldnt know what you

were talking about.

Third, several community group leaders described the funding application

process as a daunting hurdle in achieving Northern Irelands developmental goals. A

couple of problems with the application process were salient in the data. A Derry

community project administrator shares his point of view:

You can also get community activists who are good at writing funding

applications and ticking boxes. But if you dig deep they are not engaging

with the particular communities. We live in a very volatile time where we are

trying to build peace, and there is also lots of community gatekeepers who

are also controlling local communities and I think they also need to be

challenged. When somebody is good at writing applications then they keep it

very tight.

Community groups having staff able to navigate the complex criteria requirements

of funding applications are perceived as gatekeepers in the development game. If

the gatekeeper does not have the communitys interests in mind, the community

suffers.

Further, numerous participants illuminated the perception that Unionist groups,

in particular were struggling with gaining access to development funds. This point is

highlighted by one community leader from East Belfast in the following manner:

I know that in some Protestant areas there has been a sense that we have not

done as well, as it were, than Catholics in West Belfast, they have been given

lots more money. I believe, my personal belief that, theyre probably right.

East Belfast did not do as well as West Belfast out of Peace I. But thats not

necessarily because the money was given to West Belfast deliberately more,

but because East Belfast didnt ask as much.

CIVIL WARS116

Inequality in funding levels is blamed by one Belfast community group leader on a

lack of leadership within the Unionist community.

The fracture of community in Protestant areas the community that my father

wanted to get out of, because he could see what was coming, what he didnt

want his children to grow up in. That fracture in a community brain drains

people from it. The lack of leadership in many Protestant areas has meant

that. . . my community as it were, has not been able to engage together as

credibly as Catholic communities have been in terms of arguing for funding.

The Unionist community is struggling to catch up with the organizational capacity

the Nationalist community perfected during the Troubles. Moreover, the funds may

have had an adverse impact as Unionists perceive that Nationalists are the net

beneficiaries of the funding and they feel further alienated from the peace process.33

ONES OWN COMMUNITYS SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The qualitative data demonstrated that the perceptions of the impact of economic aid

on socioeconomic development and peacebuilding in Northern Ireland are mixed.

We now investigate if there is any covariance between perceived role of the

community projects financed by either the IFI or the EU Peace II Fund and ones

own communitys socioeconomic development across age, religion, gender,

economic class, and region. This line of inquiry has far-reaching implications for the

role of financial assistance in resolving ethnopolitical conflicts.34

To pursue our investigation we employ a binary response regression technique to

learn about the perceptions of respondents about the role of community projects

funded by the IFI and EU Peace II Fund in promoting ones own communitys

socioeconomic development. We present a discussion of the main results from the

estimation of the probit model.

Religion

Table 1 shows that religion is one of the factors which is associated with the

perception of individual respondents about the role of both funds on ones own

communitys socioeconomic development. The table reports that the coefficient of

the Catholic dummy variable is positive and significant at the 5 percent level of

significance. This finding suggest that the probability of Catholics perceiving a

positive role for cross-community projects funded by the IFI and EU Peace II fund in

fostering ones own communitys socioeconomic development in Northern Ireland

is higher than that of Protestants. The results in Table 1 also indicate that

professional Catholics seem to be more optimistic than skilled and unskilled

Catholics about the contribution of projects funded by both the IFI and EU Peace II

Fund on ones own socioeconomic development. This result supports the general

result that Protestants are relatively pessimistic about the role of international

financial assistance on the Northern Ireland peacebuilding process.


Gender

Table 1 also portrays that the perception of respondents about the role of both

international funds on ones own communitys socioeconomic development varies

across gender. The table indicates that the marginal effect of gender is negative and

statistically significant at the 10 percent level of significance. That is to say, keeping

all other things constant, Northern Irish women compared to men seem to be more

optimistic about the contribution of cross-community projects funded by both the

IFI and EU Peace II Fund in their communitys socioeconomic development.

Labor Force Status

Table 1 reports that none of the labor force status variables are statistically

significant. This implies that the labor force status of an individual does not seem to

matter in shaping his/her perception of the role of cross-community projects funded

by both funds in ones own communitys socioeconomic development.

Economic Class

This article also investigates the possible correlation between the category of

economic class a respondent belongs to and his/her perception of the role of

community projects financed by both international funds in ones own communitys

socioeconomic development. Three dummy variables were generated to represent

TABLE 1

PERCEIVED ROLE OF IFI AND EU PEACE II FUND ON ONES OWN COMMUNITYS

SOCIOECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

IFI EU Peace II Fund

Marginal Effect Std. Err. Marginal Effect Std. Err.

Catholic 0.202** (0.095) 0.220** (0.091)Gender 20.072** (0.034) 20.081** (0.041)Male Catholic 0.065 (0.099) 0.020 (0.097)Full-time workers 0.032 (0.067) 20.009 (0.065)Part-time workers 0.094 (0.090) 0.120 (0.083)Professional worker 20.014 (0.072) 20.044 (0.067)Professional Catholic 0.155*** (0.100) 0.207** (0.094)C2 Catholic 20.003 (0.097) 20.013 (0.098)2534 20.013 (0.095) 20.184 (0.090)3549 20.081 (0.088) 20.229* (0.083)5064 20.095 (0.089) 20.238* (0.083)65 20.008 (0.099) 20.215** (0.092)Observed p .55 .53Predicted P .55 .53Likelihood 2296.72N 413 447Wald chi2(12) 14.23 23.57Prob. . chi2 0.29 0.02

Data source:NIPublicOpinionSurvey (2006). *Significant at 1%;**significant at 5%; ***significant at 10%.Robust t-stat values in parentheses. 1,023 respondents in the sample.

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the three economic classes, which are ABC1 (professional class), DE (skilled class),

and C2 (semi-skilled class) dummy. Table 1 presents that the coefficient of

professional class is negative but statistically insignificant and hence does not

warrant interpretation. However, professional Catholics are relatively rather more

optimistic than respondents in the other economic classes. These findings imply that

the respondents from the professional Catholic class are more likely to perceive the

positive role of projects financed by both funds in the socioeconomic development

of their community. This result is not counterintuitive. Professionals are relatively

more educated than the skilled and semiskilled classes and would be expected to

enjoy relatively easy access to information to make use of the funding opportunities

available, because of their ability to understand, and access information or purely

because of network effects.

Age

The age of a respondent is also included as a determinant factor in the models

considered in this study. We include dummy variables for five age groups in Table 1.

To avoid the dummy variable trap we drop the 1525 age group, which serves as a

reference group. The table indicates that the probability of perceiving a positive role

of cross-community projects financed by the EU Peace II Fund in ones own

communitys socioeconomic development tends to increase with age. More

specifically the results show that respondents in the 1525 age group record the

highest level of awareness with regards to the impact of IFI financed projects on

ones own communitys socioeconomic development. These results tend to suggest

that young individuals are more optimistic than the older respondents about the role

of both funds in promoting peace and reconciliation via socioeconomic

development. Note that age does seem to be a factor in shaping the perception of

respondents about the role of IFI financed projects in ones own communitys

socioeconomic development.

The quantitative analysis confirms our assumption that the perceived role of the

IFI and EU Peace II funded project toward ones own communitys socioeconomic

development varies across economic class, religion, gender, and age. We find

Catholics to be more optimistic than Protestants about the contribution of

international economic assistance to ones own communitys socioeconomic

development. However, we find also that professional Catholics are optimistic about

the role of both IFI and the EU Peace II Fund in promoting ones own communitys

socioeconomic development. This study indicates that young individuals are more

optimistic than the older respondents about the role of the EU Peace II Fund in

promoting peace and reconciliation via socioeconomic development.

SYNTHESIS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS

This article has explored respondents perceptions of economic assistance from the

IFI and EU Peace II fund in promoting sustainable economic development and

peacebuilding in Northern Ireland. Even though the contribution of the IFI and EU


in financial terms is dwarfed by that coming from the British government they are

important as part of engaging civil society in a multi-track intervention peace

process.35 The funding has bolstered the consociational and civil society

approaches to conflict transformation within Northern Ireland36 as evidenced by

the recent implementation of a devolved powersharing government and Stormont

executive.

Two main discussion points flow from the quantitative and qualitative analyses.

We first present the discussions of the key results from the qualitative survey.

Subsequently, discussions of the key results from the quantitative survey follow.

Interview responses regarding the role of economic aid in socioeconomic

development were distinctly divided. Interview participants elucidated the aids

constructive role by highlighting job creation activities, institutional structural

change, and infrastructure development. Further investigation into whether these

funded activities facilitate the attainment of peacebuilding goals is required. Other

participants voiced strong criticisms regarding aids ineffectiveness, dissonance

between grassroots practitioners and policymakers, and a prohibitive funding

application process. However, these dissenting voices cannot negate the perceived

positive effects of economic aid but must be carefully considered and used to temper

and develop funding program structure and delivery processes. To this end, two

discussion items stem from analysis of the interview narratives.

First, cast in the light of the perceived successes of economic aid, widespread

concern over the aids perceived ineffectiveness may be resulting from

inappropriate expectations amongst the populace regarding appropriate timeframe

and funding capabilities. Appropriate timeframe expectations reflect an inherent

long-term generational nature of sustainable development. To explain, immediate

effects are noticeable in short-term work in employment training, job creation, and

infrastructure development. However, evaluation of long-term development

initiatives requires the eschewal of cynicism and inactivity from quick-fix

expectations and thinking processes.

Appropriate expectations regarding the economic aids capabilities must be

established. Economic aid is not a panacea but rather is dependent upon several

additional interventions in a conflict-affected region like Northern Ireland. For

example, given the high levels of political disunity that have been the norm to this

point, economic aid has perhaps performed surprisingly well. Magnification of

constructive development gains will occur as political processes align themselves

with peacebuilding efforts espoused by international funding bodies.

Perhaps a unified vision incorporating appropriate beliefs regarding a timeframe

for development and economic aids capacity can prevail in Northern Irish society

with increased transparency and communication on the part of funding bodies. As

funding civil servants advocate for realistic sustainable development expectations,

they will require steadfastness against the temptation to bypass painful long-term

gains for popular immediately noticeable short-term results.

In addition, participants voiced a need for increased engagement with, and

empowerment of the grassroots level in Northern Irish society. One pertinent

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strength of internationally administered economic aid is its ability to bypass the

potential hindrances of statutory bureaucratic structures and give voice to grassroots

level groups such as community organizations. However, participants expressed

concern that the funding bureaucratic structures may themselves not be allowing for

effective dispersal of funding to local organizations doing the best work. For

example, some participants voiced concern over funding application procedures.

Application procedures need to be user-friendly and allow for organizations staffed

by volunteers and people without university degrees to be successful in the funding

competition. In addressing this concern, funding bureaucratic structures need to

ensure widespread availability of support services such as development officers able

to assist small community groups in navigating application criteria requirements and

unfamiliar jargon. Further, criteria governing attainment of funding monies requires

the inherent flexibility to address local nuances in conflict dynamics in both

prominently Unionist and Nationalist communities.

Second, the multivariate statistical analyses from the quantitative survey signify

two main results pertaining to the peace process in Northern Ireland. First, the

evidence from the quantitative survey suggests that in general Catholics seem to be

more optimistic about the perceived role of the IFI and EU Peace II financed projects

in ones own communitys socioeconomic development in Northern Ireland.

Second, our quantitative analysis reveals that professional Catholics are more

optimistic than the other classes in the society about the role of IFI and EU Peace II

Funds on ones own socioeconomic development. The decline of traditional

Unionism is best portrayed by the collapse of the Ulster Unionist Party over the past

five years while Unionists voted for the more reactionary Democratic Unionist Party

out of a sense of frustration with the current peace process. Unionist mistrust of the

peace process was indicative of mainstream Unionist uneasiness over the

decommissioning of Republican and Loyalist arms, and prisoner release, which

meant less Unionist confidence in the GFA to resolve the conflict.37 In other words,

Protestants perceive economic gains for Catholics as a deficit for their community

promoting sectarianism rather than cooperation.38

Given that the main protagonists in Northern Ireland are predominantly Unionist

Protestants and Nationalist Catholics, the political dimension of the conflict is a key

to a lasting peace. In the past Nationalists were neglected and discriminated against

in terms of a high level of unemployment in their community. During the last three

decades of the twentieth century the probability of a Nationalist being unemployed

in Northern Ireland were three times more likely as his/her Unionist counterpart.39

However there has been a reversal of the trend toward ethnic equity in Northern

Ireland. Traditionally, Nationalists were employed in manual and non-skilled jobs,

however, this trend is changing. Increasingly a large number of Nationalists are now

entering the professional and managerial occupations which were considered as

Unionist jobs as the level of Nationalist education in Northern Ireland has also

increased in the last couple of decades.40 This factor might explain the general level

of optimism by Nationalists about the role of the IFI and EU Peace II Fund in ones

own community socioeconomic development, which may be good news for the


peace process. Nationalists are now mainly concerned with equity in opportunity

and ending their discrimination and maltreatment.41 Thus our study sheds light on

the hopes and prospects that the international economic assistance could bolster the

Northern Ireland peace process.

CONCLUSIONS

We hope we have shown in this article that properly targeted external economic

assistance can make a contribution to a better understanding of the successes, perils,

and pitfalls of applying such aid as part of an overall peacebuilding system in post-

conflict societies that promotes intergroup contact, reconciliation, and sustainable

economic development. Economic assistance from the IFI and EU Peace II Fund has

nurtured cross-community contact with a view to improve intergroup relationships

in Northern Ireland and around the cross-Border region. The participation of

grassroots NGOs, funding agency development officers and civil servants, and

economic and political elites in a web of interdependent and collaborative relations

had transformed local social-economic structures in a process of direct participatory

democracy.42 Positive experience of cross-community contact also translates into

better ways of dealing with the past (greater forgiveness) and more positive

strategies for dealing with the future (greater trust). In the terms used by Senator

George Mitchell. . . . Positive cross-community contact has a key role to play in

decommissioning of mindsets in the long running conflict in Northern Ireland.43

Economic aid on its own is not a panacea to transform the Northern Ireland

conflict, but can be an integral part of an overall multitrack peacebuilding process

that tackles the deep roots of structural conflict that have contributed to the

protracted nature of the Troubles.44 At the same time the findings of this study

indicate that building up local socioeconomic infrastructure through properly

administered external economic assistance as part of a multitrack peacebuilding

system could have the potential to transform and promote a shared civic culture in

other societies coming out of ethnic conflicts and civil wars such as Afghanistan,

Bosnia, Cyprus, El Salvador, Honduras, Iraq, Kosovo, Liberia, the Palestinian

Authority, and Rwanda.45

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank Jessica Senehi, Hamdesa Tuso, Tom Boudreau, and the anonymous reviewersfrom the journal Civil Wars for reading various drafts of this paper. This research project is supported by athree-year research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

NOTES

1. Sean Byrne and Cynthia Irvin, A Shared Common Sense: Perceptions of the Material Effects andImpacts of Economic Growth in Northern Ireland, Civil Wars 5/1 (2002) pp.5586.

2. Sean Byrne, The International Fund for Ireland and the European Union Peace I Fund: Building thePeace Dividend in Northern Ireland, Unpublished manuscript.

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3. Byrne and Irvin (note 1) p.57.4. Byrne and Irvin (note 1) p.72.5. Byrne and Irvin (note 1) p.85.6. Sean Byrne and Cynthia Irvin, Economic Aid and Policymaking: Building the Peace Dividend in

Northern Ireland, Policy and Politics 29/4 (2001) pp.41343.7. Ibid. p.438.8. Sean Byrne and Michael Ayulo, External Economic Aid in Ethnopolitical Conflict: A View from

Northern Ireland, Security Dialogue 29/4 (1998) pp.21933.9. Stephen Ryan, The Transformation of Violent Intercommunal Conflict (Aldershot: Ashgate 2007).10. Byrne and Irvin (note 6); Ho-Won Jeong, Peacebuilding in Postconflict Societies: Strategy and

Process (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner 2005) p.28.11. Jessica Senehi and Sean Byrne, From Violence Toward Peace: The Role of Storytelling for Youth

Healing and Political Empowerment After Social Conflict in Siobhan McEvoy-Levy (ed.)

Troublemakers or Peacemakers: Youth and Post-Accord Peace Building (South Bend, IN: Univ. of

Notre Dame Press 2006) pp.235258.12. Jessica Senehi argues that the co-creative, intimate, flexible, open, and elicitive storytelling

interactive process contributes to its ability to promote inclusion and empowerment. See Jessica

Senehi, Building Peace: Storytelling to Transform Conflicts Constructively in Sean Byrne, Dennis

Sandole, Ingrid Staroste-Sandole, and Jessica Senehi (eds) The Handbook of Conflict Analysis and

Resolution (London: Routledge 2008) pp.397422; Jessica Senehi, Constructive Storytelling: A

Peace Process, Peace and Conflict Studies 9/2 (2002) pp.4163; Jessica Senehi, Constructive

Storytelling in Inter-Communal Conflicts: Building Community, Building Peace in Sean Byrne and

Cynthia Irvin (eds) Reconcilable Differences: Turning Points in Ethnopolitical Conflict (West

Hartford, CT: Kumarian 2000) pp.96114.13. Sean Byrne and Loraleigh Keashly, Working with Ethno-Political Conflict: A Multi-Modal

Approach, International Peacekeeping 7/1 (2000) pp.97120.14. Byrne and Irvin (note 1), p.60.15. Byrne and Irvin (note 1) p.61.16. Paul Bew, Peter Gibbon, and Henry Patterson, Northern Ireland, 19211994: Political Forces and

Social Classes (London: Serif 1995).17. Paul Dixon, The Northern Ireland Peace Process: Choreography and Theatrical Politics (London:

Routledge 2007).18. Sean Byrne, Mired in Intractability: The Roles of External Ethno-Guarantors and Primary Mediators

in Cyprus and Northern Ireland, Conflict Resolution Quarterly 24/2 (2007) pp.14972.19. John McGarry and Brendan OLeary. Politics of Antagonism: Understanding Northern Ireland

(Abingdon: Routledge 2007).20. David Smith and Donald Chambers, Inequality in Northern Ireland (Oxford: Clarendon 1991)

pp.13, referenced in John McGarry and Brendan OLeary, Explaining Northern Ireland: Broken

Images (Oxford: Blackwell 1995) p.287.21. Paul Bew and Henry Patterson, The British State and the Ulster Crisis: From Wilson to Thatcher

(London: Verso 1985); Sean Byrne, Cynthia Irvin, Eyob Fissuh, and Christopher Cunningham, The

Role of Economic Assistance in Conflict Resolution in Northern Ireland, Peace and Conflict Studies

13/2 (2006) p.3.22. Byrne and Irvin (note 6), p.416.23. John McGarry and Brendan OLeary, Explaining Northern Ireland: Broken Images (Oxford:

Blackwell 1995) p.293.24. Byrne and Irvin (note 1) p.80.25. Cynthia Irvin and Sean Byrne, The Perception of Economic Aid in Northern Ireland and Its Role in

the Peace Process in Jorg Neuheiser and Stefan Wolff (eds) Peace At Last? The Impact of the Good

Friday Agreement on Northern Ireland (Oxford: Berghahn Books 2002) pp.13252.26. International Fund for Ireland. International Fund for Ireland Annual Reports and Accounts (Belfast

2004).27. Byrne, Irvin, Fissuh and Cunningham (note 21) p.19.28. Special EU Programs Body, Ex-Post Evaluation of Peace I and Mid-term Evaluation of Peace II (EU

Program for Peace and Reconciliation, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Nov. 2003).29. Sean Byrne, Cynthia Irvin, and Eyob Fissuh, The Perception of Economic Assistance in Northern

Ireland and Its Role in the Peace Process in Sean Byrne, Dennis Sandole, Ingrid Staroste, and Jessica


Senehi (eds) The Handbook of Conflict Analysis and Resolution (London: Routledge 2008) pp.1046,102956.

30. Marie Fitzduff, Beyond Violence: Conflict Resolution Process in Northern Ireland (New York:United Nations UP 2002)

31. Gerd Junne and Willemijh Verkoren (eds) Post Conflict Development: Meeting New Challenges(Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner 2004) p.47.

32. John Paul Lederach, Building Peace: Sustainable Reconciliation in Divided Societies (Washington,DC: United States Institute of Peace 1997) p.23.

33. Arthur Aughey (2000) The 1998 Agreement: Unionist Responses in Mick Cox, Adrian Guelke, andFiona Stephen (eds) A Farewell to Arms? From Long War to Long Peace in Northern Ireland(Manchester: Manchester Univ. Press 2000) pp.15075; Liz Dowds, Bernadette Hayes, and IanMcAllister, The Erosion of Consent: Protestant Disillusionment with the 1998 Good FridayAgreement, Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties 15/1 (2005) p.167.

34. Byrne, Irvin, Fissuh, and Cunningham (note 21), p.19.35. Ibid. p.17.36. Sean Byrne, Consociational and Civic Society Approaches to Peace Building in Northern Ireland,

Journal of Peace Research 38/3 (2001) pp.32752.37. Paul Dixon, Northern Ireland: Power, Ideology and Reality (London: Macmillan 2000).38. Byrne, Irvin, Fissuh, and Cunningham (note 21) p.17.39. John Darby, The Effects of Violence on Peace Processes (Washington, DC: United States Institute of

Peace Press 2001).40. N. Martin Marger, Race and Ethnic Relations: American and Global Perspectives (San Francisco,

CA: Wadsworth 2003) p.12.41. Ibid. p.86.42. Byrne and Irvin (note 6), p.425.43. Miles Hewstone, Ed Cairns, Alberto Voci, Juergen Hamberger, and Ulrike Niers, Intergroup

Contact, Forgiveness, and Experience of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, Journal of SocialIssues 62/1 (2006) p.117.

44. Byrne and Irvin (note 1) p.82.45. Byrne and Irvin (note 6) p.419.

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