The Longest Negotiation: B ritish Policy, IRA Strategy and the Making of the N orthern I reland Peace Settlement

This article offers a new analysis of the N orthern I reland peace settlement through an examination of the pivotal relationship between two key actors: the B ritish state and the P rovisional Republican movement that included S inn F éin and the IRA . It traces the negotiating relationship between these key parties and argues that the ending of violent conflict in the 1990s can best be understood as the outcome of a long bargaining process between these two actors that was conducted both tacitly and explicitly over a span of more than two decades. It concludes that the development of a cooperative relationship between the B ritish state and the P rovisional leadership and the active coordination of B ritish policy and republican strategy were the crucial elements in securing an end to violence in the 1990s.