The Northern Ireland Conflict and paths to Peace - How was a peace settlement to end the Troubles achieved in April 1998?

Extract

[...] The main issue was that if a deal was available, every party had to be consistent with it; it was not easy as a deal inevitably include compromises from both sides. This first attempt at creating a peace process atmosphere started quite well until the Loyalists had been aware that secret talks also occurred between the British government and Sinn Fein. It led to an urge of Loyalist violence and they started killing even more people than the IRA were from 1990 onwards. [...]

[...] The Northern Ireland Conflict and paths to Peace - How was a peace settlement to end the Troubles achieved in April 1998? The peace settlement that was achieved in April 1998 results from a long period of negotiations, doubts and violent attacks from all communities. The inter-communal conflict of The Troubles had lasted for more than thirty years leaving a city and a country deeply broken. Historians agreed to define milestones that led to the Good Friday Agreement, the peace settlement that brought The Troubles to a close. [...]

[...] Considered as an ethnonational solution, it is what brought the conflict to a close. To understand how it managed to solve the conflict, we need to understand to what extent was this agreement different from the previous attempts. First, it did involve political representatives of the people from NI. The Sunningdale agreement as well, but in 1998, the political participation war far broader. It also involved representatives of all paramilitary groups, which was significant as the paramilitary violence was the most recurrent obstacle. [...]

[...] “Can Northern Ireland Become Normal?” Fortnight, no p.7 Brooke, Peter Brooke Launches Northern Ireland Political Talks March 1991 Thomas, Quentin. “Resolving Intercommunal Conflict: Some Enabling Factors.” The British and Peace in Northern Ireland: the Process and Practice of Reaching Agreement, by Graham Spencer, Cambridge University Press p.116 Joint Declaration on Peace: The Downing Street Declaration December 1993. London : Prime Minister's Office, British and Irish Governments Ibid. Beggan, Dominic, and Rathnam Indurthy. “the conflict in Northern Ireland and the Clinton administration's role.” International Journal on World Peace, vol no p.14 Wilson, Andrew Irish Studies in International Affairs, vol p.130 Byrne, Sean, et al. [...]

[...] Indeed, people were paying the cost of the war, many of them had lost siblings and were wondering when it was going to end. Both communities also had limited options as there was a continued alinement between London and Dublin over NI. Republicans understood that they could not defeat the British State and on the contrary, the British State understood that they could not defeat the Provisional IRA. People mostly saw the conflict as a stalemate at that point. Moreover, public opinion mattered in the conflict. [...]