Truth, Denial and Transition: Northern Ireland and the Contested Past

Description

Truth, Denial and Transition: Northern Ireland and the Contested Past makes a unique and timely contribution to the transitional justice field. In contrast to the focus on truth and those societies where truth recovery has been central to dealing with the aftermath of human rights violations, comparatively little scholarly attention has been paid to those jurisdictions whose transition from violent conflict has been marked by the absence or rejection of a formal truth process. This book draws upon the case study of Northern Ireland, where, despite a lengthy debate, the question of establishing a formal truth recovery process remains hotly contested. The strongest and most vocal opposition has been from unionist political elites, loyalist ex-combatants and members of the security forces. Based on empirical research, their opposition is unpicked and interrogated at length throughout this book. Critically exploring notions of national imagination and blamelessness, the politics of victimhood and the tension between traditions of sacrifice and the fear of betrayal, this book is the first substantive effort to concentrate on the opponents of truth recovery rather than its advocates. This book will interest those studying truth processes and transitional justice in the fields of Law, Politics, and Criminology. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Abbreviations Acknowledgements Foreword 1 Introduction Denial, silence and challenging the past: The international context Truth, transition and commissioning the past: Northern Ireland The politics of definitions Research design and methodology Chapter structure 2 Truth, denial and blamelessness Introduction Unionism, identity and imagining the past Truth, denial and blamelessness Denial, silence and the liberal democratic state Truth and playing the blame game Blame, ‘Othering’ and loyalists Conclusion 3 Truth, politics and victimhood Introduction Constructing the complex political victim Unionism, innocence and the politics of victimhood Truth, victimhood and the myth of equivalence Victimhood, hierarchies and truth as ‘whataboutery’ Conclusion 4 Truth, trust and (re-)writing the past Introduction Truth, trust and the past Mistrust, loss and the republican agenda Controlling the past: State centricity and the focus of investigation Trust, truth-telling and the patterns of the past Conclusion 5 Truth, confidence and loyalty Introduction Explaining ‘loyalty’ and ‘loyalism’ Truth, confidence and loyalty as silence Truth, power and selling the story Truth, loyalty and alienation Confidence and the structure of truth Conclusion 6 Truth, sacrifice and betrayal Introduction Transitional justice and keeping faith with the dead Northern Ireland, transition and the betrayal of sacrifice Truth, betrayal and appeasing ‘the other’ The ‘illusion’ of collusion Truth and sacrifice in service Professionalism, the Police Service of Northern Ireland and breaking with the past Conclusion 7 Conclusion: truth, transition and political responsibility Appendix: List of interviewees Bibliography Index