Ethnocentric Politics, Masculinities, and the State: The Ambiguities in Ex-combatant Community-based Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland

• In Event: 502 - Regular Session. Peace and Conflict. Exploring Conflict, Peacebuilding, and Peace.

Abstract

This paper examines the ambiguous implications of the socio-political and -cultural practices of former and current paramilitaries for peacebuilding in Northern Ireland. Drawing on interviews with grassroots community leaders, public officials, and ex-combatants themselves, I illustrate how this relatively diverse group serves both productive and disruptive functions for the socio-political stability of “peace.” Findings reveal a complex reality in which some members of this group serve a variety of positive peacekeeping and peacebuilding functions while, simultaneously, resisting more fundamental social change and, both intentionally and unintentionally, undermining development in the scope of peacebuilding. The contradictory agencies are underscored by the exclusion of ex-prisoners from legitimate channels of social mobility and their dependence on positions in peacebuilding and/or (pseudo) paramilitaries for income and status; weak incentives for reconciliation and dealing with the past; the persistence of hyper-masculine culture and traditional, ethno-political ideologies; and ongoing distrust of Irish nationalism and unionist political elite. Findings contain important theoretical implications concerning the role of ex-combatants in peacebuilding for post-conflict societies more generally, in terms of the relation between the state and ex-combatants, and dynamics of power along lines of gender and social class.

Author

• Curtis Carl Holland, Northeastern University