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Scripting the Peace Process: Choreography and Theatrical Skills

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Performing the Northern Ireland Peace Process

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Abstract

The key dilemma faced by politicians during the recent peace process has been how to wind down the ‘war’ and win sufficient party and audience support for an accommodation between unionists and nationalists which falls so far short of previous expectations. This chapter describes the contrasting scripts that were prepared to convince key, rival republican and unionist audiences to support the peace process. Republicans because they thought it would lead to Irish unity, and unionists because it strengthened the Union. The pro-Agreement parties attempted to shift opinion towards accommodation through a range of political or theatrical skills and choreography—or lying and manipulation. Co-operation between rival actors ‘behind the scenes’ has contrasted with the ‘play acting’ of conflict ‘front stage’.

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  1. Department of Politics, Birkbeck College, University of London, London, UK

    Paul Dixon

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  1. Paul Dixon
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Correspondence to Paul Dixon .

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Dixon, P. (2019). Scripting the Peace Process: Choreography and Theatrical Skills. In: Performing the Northern Ireland Peace Process. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91343-8_5

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