EDUCATION IN A DIVIDED SOCIETY: THE ROLE OF INTERGROUP CONTACT IN PEACE BUILDING IN NORTHERN IRELAND

Despite increased international interest in the contribution of education to peacebuilding, there has been a neglect of the role that non-formal youth programming can play in this process. This article examines three such youth programmes in post-accord Northern Ireland through the theoretical lens of their contribution to social, economic and political transformations. Given the sustained context of segregation and limitations of the formal education sector as a mechanism for transformation, the paper argues that the non-formal sector has played an important role in ensuring inclusion of multiple youth perspectives in a divided society. It also raises a number of critical questions regarding the politics of multiple youth representation and the strength of genuine commitment to peacebuilding in terms of conflict transformation.

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Intergroup contact and peacebuilding: Promoting youth civic engagement in Northern Ireland

Journal of Social and Political Psychology ◽

10.5964/jspp.v5i2.769 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 (2) ◽

pp. 415-434 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Shelley McKeown ◽

Laura K. Taylor

Keyword(s):

Northern Ireland ◽

Civic Engagement ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Intergroup Contact ◽

Intergroup Conflict ◽

Social Reconstruction ◽

Youth Civic Engagement ◽

Good Friday ◽

Equation Modelling

Focusing on the post-accord generation in Northern Ireland, this study aimed to examine the role of intergroup contact in promoting support for peacebuilding and youth civic engagement. The sample comprised 466 youth (aged 14-15; 51% Catholic, 49% Protestant) who were born after the 1998 Good Friday/Belfast Agreement and therefore represent a ‘post-accord’ generation. Recruited through their schools, youth completed scales on intergroup contact (quality and quantity), support for peacebuilding, and civic engagement. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling and bootstrapped mediation in MPlus. Results found that support for peacebuilding partially mediated the association between higher quality and higher quantity contact and greater civic engagement (volunteering and political participation). Findings demonstrate that youth who are living with the legacy of protracted intergroup conflict can support peacebuilding and engage in constructive behaviours such as civic engagement. By recognising the peacebuilding potential of youth, especially in a post-accord generation, the findings may inform how to promote youth civic engagement and social reconstruction after conflict.

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Intergroup Contact, Intergroup Anxiety, and Attitudes towards the Opposing Group in Divided Society

Psihologijske teme ◽

10.31820/pt.30.3.1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 30 (3) ◽

pp. 397-420

Author(s):

Mimoza Telaku

Keyword(s):

Intergroup Contact ◽

Emotional Responses ◽

Negative Attitudes ◽

Intergroup Anxiety ◽

Mediating Role ◽

Divided Society ◽

Opposing Group ◽

Acculturation Attitudes ◽

Conflict Narratives

The negative attitudes and negative emotions play a key role in maintaining the hostilities between the groups of a divided society. Evidence suggests that intergroup contact can improve or worsen intergroup attitudes. The current study examined the mediating role of intergroup anxiety on quantity of interethnic contact and acculturation attitudes and emotional responses to contradictory conflict narratives in a divided society with a background of armed conflict in the past. The study was conducted among 202 Albanians and 239 Serbs in Kosovo. The results indicate that as more as they meet members of the opposing group the less they feel intergroup anxiety and the more they show acculturation attitudes towards the opposing group among both Albanians and Serbs. However, such mediating role of intergroup anxiety was not found on emotional responses to contradictory conflict narratives, except among Serbs who live in certain enclaves. The findings are discussed in terms of context, reconciliation, and maintenance of frozen conflict.

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The Role of External Actors in Incentivizing Post-Conflict Power-Sharing

Government and Opposition ◽

10.1017/gov.2013.19 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 49 (1) ◽

pp. 47-69 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Joanne McEvoy

Keyword(s):

Northern Ireland ◽

Strategic Interaction ◽

Power Sharing ◽

Peace Building ◽

Peace Agreement ◽

Post Conflict ◽

Structural Preferences ◽

External Actors ◽

External Incentives

External actors engaged in peace building often induce domestic elites to share power. This article explores the effectiveness of external incentives in establishing, maintaining or reforming power-sharing. Adopting a rationalist approach to socialization, the research investigates the strategic interaction between external and internal actors in two cases of contemporary power-sharing: Northern Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina. External incentives will probably be more effective when they uphold a peace agreement that satisfies groups’ structural preferences on constitutional issues. External incentives can, under certain conditions, lead to internalization and the potential ‘habitualization’ of power-sharing as norm-conforming behaviour. The strategy of external actors will be less effective when their socialization efforts are inconsistent and coercive, viewed as threatening to one or more of the contending groups.

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Reducing Prejudice Through Narratives

Journal of Media Psychology Theories Methods and Applications ◽

10.1027/1864-1105/a000249 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (4) ◽

pp. 185-195 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Emily Moyer-Gusé ◽

Katherine R. Dale ◽

Michelle Ortiz

Keyword(s):

Intergroup Relations ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Intergroup Contact ◽

Contact Hypothesis ◽

Muslim Americans ◽

Intergroup Anxiety ◽

Intergroup Interactions

Abstract. Recent extensions to the contact hypothesis reveal that different forms of contact, such as mediated intergroup contact, can reduce intergroup anxiety and improve attitudes toward the outgroup. This study draws on existing research to further consider the role of identification with an ingroup character within a narrative depicting intergroup contact between Muslim and non-Muslim Americans. Results reveal that identification with the non-Muslim (ingroup) model facilitated liking the Muslim (outgroup) model, which reduced prejudice toward Muslims more generally. Identification with the ingroup model also increased conversational self-efficacy and reduced anxiety about future intergroup interactions – both important aspects of improving intergroup relations.

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