Northern Ireland provides a valuable case study of a seemingly 

intractable conflict undergoing transformation. Lee Smithey offers a grassroots view of that transformation, through interviews and field research in the region, and provides essential models for how ethnic and communal-based conflicts can shift from violent confrontation toward multiculturalism and democratic cooperation. 

Smithey focuses particularly on Protestant unionists and loyalists in Northern Ireland, who maintain varying degrees of commitment to the Protestant faith, the Crown, and British identity. He argues 

that mutually-opposed collective identities in ethnopolitical conflict can become less polarized as partisans adopt new conflict strategies and means of expressing identity. Thus, the close and recursive relationship between collective identity and collective action forms a crucial element of conflict transformation. Smithey closely examines attempts in Protestant / unionist / loyalist communities and organizations to develop more constructive means of pursuing political agendas, expressing collective identity, and improving community relations. Key leaders and activists have begun to reframe collective narratives and identities, diminishing out-group polarization and making community support possible for greater political and civic cooperation.

Swarthmore College News and Information has posted a piece about the book on the college's website.

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Unionists, Loyalists and Conflict Transformation in Northern Ireland has been awarded the 2012 Donald Murphy Book Prize for Distinguished First Book by the American Conference for Irish Studies, which will be meeting in New Orleans at Tulane University March 14-17.

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View coverage of the book's launch at Parliament Buildings, Stormont on March 8, 2012.

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Many thanks to the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies in the School of International Relations at the University of St. Andrews, who hosted a lecture on the book.

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The Irish School of Ecumenics (Trinity College, Belfast) hosted a lecture on the book as part of annual Community Relations Week activities in Northern Ireland.

"... an extrememly interesting read [this book] manages to move between theory and practice, while providing readers with the knowledge and understanding of the complex phenomena that constitute conflict transformation in a divided society." 

-- Jonny Byrne, Lecturer, School of Criminology, Politics and Social Policy, University of Ulster, in the Times Higher Education 

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"The book avoids the temptation to romanticize the peace process and is hard-hitting and realistic about the prospects of conflict transformation amongst Unionists. The book makes a significant contribution to the new field of the sociology of peace processes."

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"In this book Lee Smithey does a terrific job analyzing how grassroots activists and social movements in Northern Ireland's Protestant community are transforming their relationship with Catholics in ways that reflect and promote a more or less peaceful coexistence in this once strife-ton region." 

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