A Decade Since the Good Friday Accords, Where is Northern Ireland Today?

The second panel of the day focused on the Northern Ireland peace process which culminated in the Good Friday Accord of 1998. Since the agreement was passed, much has changed in the historically conflicted region but much has also stayed the same, namely voluntary and systematized segregation between Catholic and Protestant communities. The speakers on this panel included:

Ms. Dawn Purvis - Former leader of the Progressive Unionist Front and current chair of Healing Through Remembering

Dr. Shane O'Neill - Dean of Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, Queens University Belfast

Dr. Dominic Bryan - Director and lecturer, Institute of Irish Studies, Queens University Belfast

Dr. Lise Howard - Assistant professor, Government Department, Georgetown University (moderator)

The following are some key snapshots from the invigorating and thought-provoking discussion on how do you measure peace and how to identify sociopolitical trends reminiscent of high-conflict times:

From left to right: Dominic Bryan, Shane O'Neill, Dawn Purvis and Lise Howard

Dawn Purvis spoke about the intention behind nonviolence and the emergence of "peace walls" that do little more than to divide communities. She asked, how can a wall be peaceful?

M.A. Candidate in Conflict Resolution, Patrick Scullin, asked the panelists a question during the Q&A session which was a feature of all the panels, giving students the opportunity to engage, challenge and learn more form the experts.