Nature and Origin of Conflict

Key Terms

Challenge - A task or issue that is perceived as being provocative or threatening to debate. The issues
that arise from challanges often cause alternative view to be expressed usually in a peaceful manner but
some issues may be extreme or polarised

Conflict- A state of disagreement caused by the percieved or actual opposition of needs,values an intrests
between people. Geographically it is often about opposing views about the ways in which a resource may
be developed or used. The result is negative tension between parties involved. Can result in war, harsh
words or armed conflict. Ongoing state of hostility between two or more groups of people

Causes of Conflict
Identity- Identity is a sense of belonging to a group or geographical area where there
is the same generic character. Examples are Ethnicity , language and religion

Nationalism - Loyalty and devotion to a nation

Regionalism - Loyalty and devotion to a distinct region that share similarities

Localism - An affection for a particular place rarely political

Ethnicity - The group of people according to their ethnic orgins or characteristics. National, tribal, religious,
linguistic or cultural origins or background

Culture - Culture is the cutsomary beliefs, social norms and tratis of racial religious or social groups and the
set of shared attiudes and values they follow

Territory - An geographical area under the jurisdiction of a governmental authority. This area will have some
autonomy. Conflict can occur over who has authority over the area.

Patterns of Conflict
International- Involves the participation of more than one country. Gaza strip, Afghanistan

National - Conflict that takes place within a country. Egypt politics President Mubarak

Regional - Conflict that takes place within an area of one country or across the borders of one or omore countries.
North South Divide England.

Local - conflict is restricted to a small part of one region of a country. Sandyforth open cast mine.

Expression of Conflict
Non violent - Conflict of this nature does not involve force or armed struggle. Points are
made by word signs marching and silent protests some are succesful however most end bad
Ukraine 2004 Burma 2007

Political Activity - Groups within a country who seek to acquire and exert political power through government.
Groups called parties have a certain ideology and agenda to win elective office. Often involves debate for laws for
example the house of commons.
Terrorism - The systematic use of fear among the public as a way of trying to force the authorities into action for a
political or ideological end. International terrorism has become increasingly more frequent in recent centuries.

Insurrection - An act or instance of revolt againist civil authority or an established government. Usuall involving a
rebellion againist the rules of that government. People who take part are called insurgents and aremd conflict againist
the armed forces of the regime is common

War - Declaring armed conflict between states or nations

Conflict Resoloution
This is the means by which conflict at a variety of scales can be brought to and end.

Sometimes this can involve the removal of the causes of conflict, but more than often it can involve negotiating to
allow all parties to lie with some sort of comprimise over the problem.

Conflict resoloution Usually consists of a gradual process of talking and building trust, which in turn, tends to require
an outside mediator

Tools of Conflict Resoloution

Negotiation Mediation Community Building Diplomacy

Teaching Prayer Counselling

In real world conflict many of these would be used to resolve the conflict

Conflict over the use of a Local Resource

There have been a number of conflicts in the UK over large building projects that have
achieved public and national noteriety.The include the Newbury bypass in Berkshire, the
second runway at Manchester Airport, the new container terminal in the Southampton area,
Terminal 5 at Heathrow and the building of the Olympic site in London for the 2012 games.
There are also many examples locally across the UK where people have disagreed, for
example about the construction of a new shopping complex, landfill site or housing estate.

Resolving the conflict

Such conflicts are resolved by market processes, planning processes or, in some cases a
combination of the two.

Market Processes - operate where the ability of the organisation undertaking the project to
pay the going rate takes precedence over any local or national concerns. Often, objectors
cannot afford to outbid the developer and the development goes ahead with the minimum of
consultation often takes the form of an oppurtunity to voice objections or propose
counterarguements, but with no right of independent arbitration or appeal.

Planning processes - are an attempt to provide a means by which local authority planners :

.Listen to the local community (more democratic)

.Listen to the organisation responsible for a proposal

.have overall development control

A local authority's refusal to grant planning permission may lead to an appeal by the
developer, either to the local planning committee or to a higher body, for example the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). Planning processes are
costly for local authourities, in both time and money. Planning committeees may:

.require or negotiate modifications to be made to offset the opposition

.request additional provision of facilities ( such as better road access) that the
developer or authority would have to provide if the development went ahead, and
that might placate local opposition.
Local Conflict Case Study: Conflict on a local scale:
Heathrow expansion
The reason for the conflict
Heathrow located on the East of London within the Borough of Hillingdon. It is the busiest in the
UK and the third busiest airport in the world and is under pressure to increase its size with more
and more demand from
passengers. It has 5
Terminals and 2 runways,
with the proposed plans
would increase to 6
terminals and 3 runways
the proposed plan will
cover the areas shown left.
It as shown will completely
cover the Sipson village
whilst big areas of the
villages Harmondsworth
and Harlinton needed to be
demolished. This has
caused massive amount of
confilict not just in the
village but all over the
country.

The reasons for the building of the expansion are:

 Relieve the pressure on Heathrow due to the increasing amount of passangers

The government is under pressure to increase the air travel capacity as more and more
people each year travel by air and the most cost effective solution would be to increase the
size of the current airports which are in place

 Keep up with European competition

Theres a lot of european competition with the airport capacity therefore increasing our
airport size mean that we can keep up with this competition

 The expansion will boost the UK economy

The increasing amount of air travellers mean that the air travel companies will take an
increasing profit which is then TAX by the government which means that it will inject more
money into the economy, there would also be increased amount of job opputunites so
 reduce the amount of unempolyed people which the government has to pay for further
improving the UK economy.

 The alternatives are more expensive than this

The alternatives cost £15.6 billion for a high speed rail link but this would mean that there is
a huge amount of money which would increase the countries deficit and the tickets would
be very expensive to make the money back to the amount of people which would use this
would be limited as they would prefer to go by airtravel.

The reasons against the building of the airport are:

 People losing their houses and local community

The village of Sipson will be completely lost and major parts of the two surrounding villages
of Harmondsworth and Harlinton needed to be pulled down. This means that over 2,000
people will need to be relocated which would mean that the local community will be lost.

 Increasing pollution due to the increased amount of air traffic and large amount of
greenfield site to be covered within the plans

There will be increasing amount of pollution due to the increase greenhouse gas emission
and also the loss of a vast area of Greenfield site which means the loss of habitat for many
species of animal. There will also be increased amount of noise pollution to the surrounding
area which will disturb the surrounding villages and animals. The government has been set
targets to reduce the countries pollution but this development would mean that is harder
for the government to reach its targets.

 The increasing pollution would also increase the health risk for Londoners

London is a large city which creates massive amounts of pollution and when this gets to high
levels it puts people health at risk as they breathe it in and can cause damage to the
respiratory system which may in turn put more pressure onto the health system which is
already under a lot of pressure.

 There are better alternative solutions

An alternative to this is to build a high speed rail link between London, Birmingham,
Manchester and Leeds. This would hope to reduce the amount of people using airports and
since the rail link is more environmentally better will mean that there would be less
greenhouse gas emission.

The attitudes of different groups of people to the conflict

 Student living in Sipson

She didn’t want to lose the house which she lived in so she to direct action against the
Heathrow expansion which then she became part of a Climate Change camp and
Greenpeace to help the protest. She does not agree with the plans which have been made.
 Chair of No Third Runway Action Group (NoTrag) living in West Drayton

The organisation NoTrag is funded by the Hillingdon Council and represents people living in
the London Borough. She is strongly against the expansion as it is threatening her local
community and is very concerned about the effect the new runway will have on her
children. She says she will not move because her family and friends are located near where
she lives.

 Primary school teacher at Heathrow primary school in Sipson

She’s very annoyed that the century old school which she works in will demolished meaning
the 350 students will need to be sent elsewhere. It would be a waste to demolish a
oversubscribed school with a good reputation. She finds it hard to teach the kids as they do
not know about the plans and does not want to make them aware of it so they would be
worried about it.

 Parent living in Sipson

He’s worried about sending his child to a different as the school which she’s at Heathrow
primary school has a good reputation which he moved his child into and does not want to
move her again. He works at Heathrow but does not want to see it expand but rather the
other airports such as Gatwick.

 Member of the residents association in Sipson

She’s lived in the village for 42 years and is a chair of the Sipson Resident Association and
has campaigned heavily against the expansion. She says that the mood of the area has
changed and people found it difficult to get on with their lives since BAA announced their
plans for the expansion. The expansion has made the property market very poor with very
few houses selling.

 Store owner in Harmondsworth

He’s worried about his business because a lot of his customers come from Sipson so he will
see reduction in the amount of customers he gets so. But he does get airport workers buying
their lunches but would not get as much as local people as they buy a lot less which will
definitely affect his business.

 Homeowner in Harmondsworth

He believes that BAA will not stop at the current expansion but expand more and will then
demolish the village which he lives in. He moved to that location because he wanted to live
in peace but he will not get that if the expansion goes ahead the planning itself causes a lot
of conflict which is disturbing the relative peace. He will find it hard to move in the current
climate due to having a big mortgage and house prices increasing.
  Mechanic in Harlington

He’s seen a lot of expansion of the airport and is not fazed by the expansion plans and says: "But
you can't stop progress and this is what it is. It's understandable why they want to build
- everybody uses the airport.” He believes he may see an increase in the amount customers
whom he has as when people are on their way from the airport, so he is for the expansion.

The processes which operate to resolve the conflict

Recognition that some people benefit, whereas others may lose,

when the outcome is decided.
The final outcome of this conflict was that when the Conservative-Liberal Democrats coalition came
into power the plans were scrapped due to them backing a plan to build a high speed rail link which
would connect up London to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. This was backed due to the less
CO2 emissions that will be emitted due to the reduction in air travel.

People who benefit

Local within the village of Sipson – This means that the village will not need to be destroyed so
people can continue living in their homes and their children can continue going to the same school.

Environmentalist – The scrapping of the plans will see then areas of Greenfield site will not be paved
over so prevent the loss of habitat due and the other projected plans also plan to reduce greenhouse
gases.

Londoners – The reduction in pollution will reduce the health risk of people who live around the
airport as they will be living in less pollution which can cause a potential health risk

Government – The CO2 reduction means that the government is more likely to reach its targets of
greenhouse gas emissions so is likely to receive sanctions because of it.

People who will lose

Construction companies – this big project not going ahead will mean that companies are able to
improve their business because of it.

Businesses who use the airports – The stagnate growth of this airport may mean that business are
not able to expand as much as they could as they don’t have enough commodities to expand.

Not able to keep up with competition – The stopping of the expansion and the possible reduction in
the airport size will mean that Heathrow will not be able to keep up with it European competition.

Developers - These will be under pressure to come up with another solution which can keep up wit
the rising demands.
International Conflict

The Gaza strip conflict.

Location:The Gaza strip is located within south west Israel and

it boarders with Egypt and the Mediterranean sea.

When: March 2007 – Present

Sides: Palestinian,Hamas (Islam) against state of Israel (Jewish)

Causes of the conflict: Hamas want to take control of Israel

and establish it as a Palestine terriorty under the rule of Islam,
then hope to take over the world with their rule. They will not
stop until they have have control over Israel.

History:
25th Jan 2006: In the Palestinian parliamentry elections Hamas
won the elections which the Israeli government, US and EU
refused to accept this so the aid which was going to the
Palestinian government was stopped. These results cause a
conflict between Hamas and Fatah (another Palestinian party)

14th Jun 2006: Hamas then took control of the Gaza Strip by
rooting out the Fatah and other government officals out of the government so seizing the
government.

19th Sep 2007: Gaza strip was declared a hostile entity with rockets and motars being fired at israeli
towns

Jan 2008: Boarders to the Gaza Strip were closed so all trade in the region was stopped resulting fuel
shortages so there is a lot of power shortages in the reigion. This was condemned as would lead to
food and water shortages, Israel asked for a ceasefire which the Hamas rejected. This caused many
tunnels underneath the Egypt boarder to be created, so goods could be brought in.

Feb 2008: The fighting intesified with more rockets being fired and Israel attacks being launched
against the Hamas

27th December 2008: Israeli fighters performed air strikes on Gaza due to the continuous rocket fire
at Israel, the air strike caused 434 killed and 2,800 injured in the attacks
3rd Jan 2009: A ground invasion on the Gaza strip by the Israeli began, this stretched over 22 days
which 1 thousand-1 point 4 thousand Palestinians and 13 Israeli were killed. Israel then declared a
ceasefire but Hamas vowed the battle continue until the Israeli forces didn’t leave the strip. In the
conflict 10 thousands homes, 15 hospials, 43 healthcare facilities, 800 water wells,10 thousand
family farms were destroyed leaving 50 thousand homeless and 500 thousand people without
running water. After the conflict goods brought in were returned to their normal levels.

18th Jan 2009: Isreal declared a one sided ceasefire which meant that the Gaza Strip war was over.

2010: The blockade was still in place and came under a lot of critisms as there were shortages of
medical supplies and equipment whilst having a massive effect on the Gazan economy

28th May 2011: After Egypt president Hosni Mubarak resigned Egypt boarder to the Gaza strip was
opened meaning goods and arms could be brought into the Gaza Strip area.

Impacts:
Social

 There are widespread case of drought due to many of the water well being damaged
 The water supply is contaminated meaning there is wide spread disease as 80% of the water
is not sutiable for drinking.
 In the conflict there have been 20 Israeli killed and 1 point 5 thousand -2 thousand
Palestinins killed whilst leaving 5 thousand injured.
 10 thousands homes destroyed, 15 hospials, 43 healthcare facilities, 800 water, 10 thousand
family farms were destroyed leaving 90 thousand homeless and 500 thosand people without
running water causeing widespread drought
 Many schools were closed in Isreal due to the rocket threates and continue to have limited
attendance to the schools.

Economic

 The Gaza economy has been badly damaged as many businesses have been destoryed and
there is no trade happening in or out of the region
 There are no one in jobs in the gaza strip to earn money
 The power plant is not operational due to lack of fuel and spare parts leaving 250 thousand
people without power in the gaza strip
 Over 200 factories have been severly damaged or destroyed.
 Up to 60% of the agriculutral industry has been damaged by the conflict as the water
pollution made it hard to grow crops

Environmental

 There is pollution in the groundwater as the sewage is free flowing causeing damage to the
surrounding area which can damage plants mainly crops.
Multicultural societies in the UK
Migration of the ethnic groups leads to the creation of multicultural societies. In most
countries there is at least one minority group and, while they may be able to live
peacefully with the majority, it is more likely that there will be a certain amount of
prejudice and discrimination leading to tensions and conflict. There is therefore an
emotive and sensitive issue, particularly when cultural differences are interpreted as
racial differences.

Multicultural societies are often the product of migration, but they also may be the
stimulus for it as persecuted groups leave countries to escape oppression.

Ethnic segregation is the clustering of people with similar ethnic or cultural

characteristics into to separate urban residential areas. There are numerous
examples in the UK. The largest ethnic minority in the country in Indian population,
which forms 27% of the total ethnic minority population. The next largest is the
Pakistani ethnic minority (17%), followed by by the Black Caribbean (15%). Smaller,
but still significant, ethnic minorities of Bangladeshi, black African and Chinese
people also live in the country.

In the 2001 census there were 57 million people in the Uk. Of these, 4.3 million
(7.5% of the population) were people born abroad. This had increased to 5 million in
2006. Between 1991 and 2001, half of the Uk's population growth was due to
immigration

Reasons for the development of multicultural societies.

Multicultural societies are formed by migartion. There have been a number of

significant migrations into the Uk over the last 200 years. The descendants of these
migrants, and the intermarriage that has taken place since, have created the
multicultural society that now exists.

The main migrations that have taken place to the UK are :

nineteenth century - Jewish arrivals from Russia/Poland, escaping persecution

nineteenth century - Irish people escaping from poverty in rural ireland

1930 -1940's - Jews and Poles escaping fascism in the Secound World War

1948 - 1960's - Caribbean workers invited to help rebuild postwar Britain, mainly in
public services
1950 - 1960's - Asians for India , Pakistan and Bangladesh escaping poverty and
seeking work in public services and textile industries

1970's - east African Asians ( mainly from Uganda) escpaing persecution and
Vietnamese escaping war

1980 - 1990's eastern european refugees escaping from war and polotical unrest in
Romania and former Yugoslavia

2000's - Economic migration from eastern Europe caused by enlargement of the EU

Issues related to multicultural societies

Housing -

In the initial phases of immigration, multiple occupancy of rented accommodation in

inner city areas (Terraced houses) was widespread. As migrants are often a source
of cheap labour in low paid construction, transport or health service jobs ( in the UK
in 2000, 27% of London Underground staff, 26%, of all workers in the health services
and 14% of all workers in the catering industry were foreign born), they have tended
to concentrate in areas of poorest housing in major cities. Such concentrations are
then built on by later migrants who wish to live near family in an ethnic community.

Ethnic minorities have been less successful in securing mortgage loans. This has
forced them to use less conventional and more expensive forms of financing which
limits what they are able to afford. This contributes to the low rate of owner
occupancy among the ethnic minority population.

Ethnic minorities have also been discriminated against in access to local authority
housing and tend to be disproportionately represented among council hosue tenants.
This has lead to landlords for a certain ethnic group providing housing for only that
ethnic group this process is known as the racialisation of residential space

More recently owner occupancy has increased and some wealthy individuals have
moved into suburban areas. In addition, many members of the ethnic minorities run
small business such as shops, and live in part of the same building. Despite this
geographical segregation is clear, as is inequality. On average Asian households are
the largest of all ethnic groups, contain most dependent children, are the most
overcrowded and have the highest rate of unemployment.

Education -
Concentrations of minorities in inner-city areas have led to some schools being
dominated by one ethnic group, which has affected education requirements. For
example, special English lessons may be needed for children and their parents
(mother in particular) and bilingual reading schemes may be introduced. Rare faith
schools are being created. In communities like Leicester and Bradford, where
holiday patterns, school timetables and school timetables and school meals reflect
the ethnic mix of the areas. This helps to enhance mutual understanding of culture,
particularly among the young.

Healthcare -

In the past there has been a lack of resistance to childhood diseases among the
children of newly arrived immigrants, and fears about immunisation. Literature has
been produced in ethnic minority languages to inform parents about the benefits of
immunisation. However as literacy and education standards have improved,
particularly among the second and subsequent generation ethnic minorities, there
have been fewer concerns.

Many ethnic minority groups continue to live in run-down inner-city areas and there
remains a higher concentration of communicable and transmittable disease in such
areas. However, this is more a reflection of the living standards in these areas than
of the people who live in them.

Language -

New migrants can find it difficult to obtain employment and to integrate if they do not
speak English. Second-generation migrant children, educated in the UK, grow up
speaking English and have different aspiration from their parents. They are more
likely to integrate, and this can cause tension within the ethnic group if they adopt the
culture of the host country.

Religion -

Migrants from the Indian subcontinent, and other parts of Asia, are likely to follow a
different religion from the host population. This may cause friction with employers
and authorities when migrants wish to adhere to their own religious calendars and
practices.

Economic Issues -
Migration is often welcomed during times of economic growth but resented during
economic recessions, when migrants are accused of taking jobs. This has happened
in Germany and France as well as the UK. However, in 2002 it was calculated that
the net tax contribution from migrants of migrants to the UK economy was £2.5
billion per year and that a 1% population increase through migration can lead to a
1.25% - 1.5% increase in GDP (Uk home office stats May 2002).

Migrants now account for one in eight of the Uk's working age population, which it is
estimated boosts the economic output bu 6 billion. A government report published in
2007 concluded Migrants are filling jobs that natives will not do'. There is also
evidence to suggest that employers prefer to employ immigrant workers because of
their willingness to work for lower wages to put in longer hours and for their better
work ethic compared with UK born workers.
Other Social issues -
The Home office stated that an increasing number of migrants are putting pressure
on services for example Health education and social services and also some people
are worried about increased crime and disorder. Terrorist incidents create a negative
tension on multicultural societies for example in 7/7 bombings of London carried out
by "Home grown" Islamic fundamentalist terrorists.

Immigration controls -
Many countries are tightening their rules on immigration and allocation of work
permits. This makes it more difficult for both economic refugees and genuine asylum
seekers to gain entry. There has been growing pressure for external controls to
restrict immigration to Europe now that movement within the EU is easier.

Seperatism within Cross National

Boundaries
The Nature of Separatism -
When the people of a region feel alienated from central government, they often seek
to gain more political control. Such groups may have a different language, culture of
religion from the rest of the state and are often geographically peripheral. They feel
remote from centralised governemtn and feel that they do not recieve adequate
support, particularly with economic development.

Reasons for Separatism -

Reasons for separatist pressure in a region include :

.an area which is economically depressed compared with a wealthier one

. a minority language or culture with a different history

. a minority religious grouping

.the perception that exploitation of local resources by the national government

produces little economic gain for the region

.peripheral location to the economic political core

. collapse of the state, weakening the political power that held the regions together (
e.g the former USSR, Yugoslavia)
. the strengthening of supernational bodies such as the Eu, which has led to many
national groups to think they have a better chance of developing economically if they
are independant

Examples of Sepratist Movements -

. In Spain, the Basque area (Northern Spain and Southwest France) and Catalonia
(northeast Spain), which now has the autonomy to decide many of its own affairs.
The Catalan language for example, has been taught in all schools in the region sice
1983 and has become the official language of education.

. The break-up of the former Soviet Union (USSR) into is 15 constituent republics
including Russia Moldova Latvia Ukraine Georgia Kazakhstan and Lithuania

. Scottish nationalism. Before its union with England, Scotland was a separate
kingdom and it still has its own national church (Presbyterian), separate education
and legal systems and its own language (Gaelic) which is spoken in parts of the
country. The Scottish National party (SNP) feels that the exploitation of North Sea oil
and gas has done little to develop the economy of Scotland. The drive for
independence was partly satisfied by the establishment in 1999 of a parliament with
limited tax raising power. In 2007, the SNP became the largest party in Scottish
Parliament.

Separatism in Northern Ireland case study

Location: UK, Northern Ireland

Sides of conflict: Catholics (IRA, Sinn Fein) and Protestants (UVF, UFA)

Reasons for conflict:

 People in Republic of Ireland and Catholics in Northern Ireland want the whole of Eire to be
under the Republic of Ireland
 Protestants mainly in Northern Ireland want to be part of the UK so under the influence of
the UK government
 In the past Kings and Queens of England have controlled over Eire so had a huge influence
over the island so when England turned to protestant so did some of people in Eire who
wanted to be under control of the UK government.

History

All started in 1536 when the Church of England was created and since the Kings and Queens of the
UK have control over the most of Eire they had a massive influence on the population as they try to
abolish Catholicism in Ireland.

Penal law was introduced in 1691 where Catholics were forbidden from buying land or owning any
stock, whilst catholic education was stopped as well.
In 1714 Oliver Cromwell came to Ireland and ruthlessly imposed in authority as 93% of the land was
given to British people whilst only 7% was left for the Irish.

There was a great famine in the 1840’s where the crops failed mainly potato crops they did produce
other types of crop but they were forcibly sold and were not allowed to be eaten. This caused many
Irish to the be emigrated to the US but most died in transit and depleted the population which it
would not recover for 100 years

The Ulster volunteer force was formed in 1892 and they vowed to oppose being ruled by the
republic of Ireland and so fought for a British Ulster.

A counter group was soon formed called The Irish Volunteers but soon became known as the Irish
Republican Army who wanted a home rule for the whole of Ireland but these were weak compared
to the British armed UVF. A small group known as Sinn Fein was formed and encouraged Irish MP’s
to leave the British parliament so a government could be setup within the republic of Ireland.

Then in 1918 Sinn Fein won a large amount of seats they then made a declaration of independence
this then formed Ireland’s first parliament.

1921 Northern Ireland with 6 counties was partitioned from the rest for Ireland which had 26
counties. Catholics were not allowed power, also had very poor job opportunities within Northern
Ireland.

1971 The British tried to inhibit the IRA by imprisoning many of the people who were IRA
“sympathisers” this caused a lot of unrest as many of them were innocent and were unfairly treated.
The British army also shot 13 unarmed civilians which became known as Bloody Sunday and caused a
massive public outrage. This started a period known as “The Troubles”

In 1975 the IRA started to attack people and buildings in Northern Ireland and on the British
mainland. Whilst the UVF and the Ulster Defence Association carried out cold blooded attacks on the
Northern Irish Catholics.

1980’s IRA bombs devastated Shopping centres in Guilford and many other British cities/towns.

In 1990, things began to change for the good. External factors came to bear. A sympathetic British
government, US interest, and EU membership brought economic renewal. The Catholic Churches'
influence was waning in the Republic, which was also booming economically.

In 1995, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams announced a ceasefire so British troops started to pull out of
Ireland.

On April 10th 1998 the Good Friday Agreement was signed where Northern Ireland was allowed to
decide its fate and there was more religious equality in Northern Ireland

There is still some conflict in Northern Ireland with the IRA splintering again and devastating the
town of Omagh killing 29 people, but the police forces within Northern Ireland are both Catholic and
Protestant whist before were only protestant. There are some gangs in Ireland which carry on
causing conflict.

Consequences of conflict
 The conflict meant that businesses had to spend money on security which reduced their
profits so companies were put off due to this and they looked elsewhere. So there was a
decrease in both local and foreign investment
 The troubles cost the British economy as it would cost £500,000 a day to keep the troops in
Ireland to maintain the peace and compensate for the loss of life.
 The IRA are against the peace and have extreme demands which disrupts the peace process
 People in Northern Ireland have grown up with an atmosphere of fear and tension. Both
protestant and catholic also been segregated socially in the way they live, work and play. So,
some people grow up without an understanding between the two groups so can cause
conflict.
 There has been a major loss of life and the actual death toll is not known.
 Although there have been attempts at making a fair voting system it has not been fully
implemented as the different political parties refuse to share power.