Aspects of the Belfast Agreement

An original and comprehensive explanation of the most significant aspects of the Belfast Agreement. Its contributors discuss the motives of its signatories, the relationship between the Agreement and previous attempts to restore devolution to Northern Ireland, and the considerable difficulties that have been faced in implementing the deal struck on Good Friday 1998. The collection is up to date, and includes highly informed, lucid and accessible discussions of both the institutional design of the Agreement and the popular reception it was accorded in Northern Ireland and beyond. It offers a balanced and critical appraisal of the most recent attempt to fashion a 'political settlement' which acknowledges the difficulties still to be faced in putting it fully into effect.