Overview of measures and methods undertaken by peace-keeping facilitators to promoteand sustain contact, interaction and conflict resolution techniques and interventions in the context of post-war reconciliation programs in Northern Ireland.

1. Best of enemies:
former combatants working together in
N. Ireland
Dr. Alan Bruce
ULS Ireland
7th International Congress on Conflictology and Peace
UOC Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona
2 October 2014

2. Prequel….
Why this sudden bewilderment, this confusion?…
Why are the streets and squares emptying so rapidly,
Everyone else going home in thought?
Because the night has fallen and the barbarians haven’t come.
And some of our men who have just returned from the border say
There are no barbarians any longer.
Now what’s going to happen to us without barbarians?
Those people were a kind of solution.
Waiting for the Barbarians
Constantine Cavafy

3. N. Ireland: roots of conflict

4. Where do we start?
 The Northern Ireland paradise
 The occupied and oppressed nation
 The troublesome isle
 Shared invisibilities

5. Contours of a history
Celtic dreamscapes
Christian fusion and innovation
 Invasion, absorption and diversity
 Land and dispossession
The laboratory of colonialism
Fear and self-loathing

6. Memories, memories…
The only memory is the memory of wound
Czeslow Milosz
 Victims or perpetrators
 Disputed pasts
 What do we know?
 Who are we?
 Who can we trust?

7. History as nightmare
 Divided identities
 Cultural difference
 Inequality and injustice
 Ethnic and religious conflict
 Partition of Ireland 1921
 Constant rebellion: the Civil Rights struggle and 1968
 Europe’s long war: 1969-1994

8. The fractured island

9. The troubled nation

10. Attempting solutions
 Peace process: 1990s
 Belfast Agreement 1998
 Innovative politics: power sharing
 Policing
 Shared space
 Common language: divided identities
 Divided learning
 Prejudice, discrimination, sectarianism

11. Constructing shared learning
 Overcoming mistrust
 Emphasis on those who participated, experienced, suffered
 Origins of Expac
 The Messines project
 Role of EU: Peace and Reconciliation Program
 Role of US: learning exchange and IFI

12. Conflicts of Interest
 Curriculum development
Workshop based seminars
DVD footage – multimedia
 Distance learning support
 Case studies
 Personal testimony: guest lecturers
 Conflict transformation training
Mediation skills

13. Urban nightmares?

14. Starting point…..2007

15. Engaging learners
Community uptake
Republican groups
 Loyalist groups
 Interaction and conflict
Addressing identity
Comparative analysis
Adult education methodology

16. Modules
 Origins and nature of conflict
Case study: Balkans
Conflicts and human rights
Case study: Spain
Sectarianism and discrimination
Case study: European Union
Reconciliation and change
Case study/practicum: South Africa

17. Methodology
Expert external testimony/witness
 Media and film
 Site visits
Debate
 History and identity
Shared learning projects
Academic inputs
 Learning support and application

18. Apprentice Boys’ Hall: Derry

19. Belfast 2009

20. Teachers, Derry 2010

21. Developing linkage: Greece

22. Developing linkage: school
debates

23. Embedding learning
 Accreditation: QUB 2011
European application: Balkans, UK, Cyprus
 Rights, diversity, community
Conflict resolution methodologies
Technology and e-learning
Dealing with hatred and conflict
Sustainable, innovative learning
 Future directions

24. Communities empowered
 Relevance
 Sustainability
 Cogency
 Academic depth
 User friendliness
 Progression and deepening
 From reconciliation to transformation
 The role of human rights
 Lessons for Europe

25. From hope to reality

26. Gràcies!
Dr. Alan Bruce
ULS Dublin
abruce@ulsystems.com