ABSTRACT
The history of the Northern Ireland conflict since 1969, and indeed before, continues to be highly controversial. Nationalists continue to aspire to a united Ireland and republicans argue that substantial progress is being made towards this goal. The Democratic Unionist Party, by contrast, argues that the republicans have been effectively defeated and the Union is secure. The ultimate goal of unionist and nationalist politicians, therefore, has not substantially changed because of the peace process. The transformation has come in the tactics by which nationalists and unionists pursue these objectives. The overwhelming majority of republicans have given up the ‘armed struggle’ to pursue Irish unity by peaceful and democratic means. The DUP has accepted power-sharing and an Irish dimension as a means of securing unionists a share of power and consolidating the Union. Loyalist paramilitaries are not completely inactive but much progress has been made towards this end.
