2020 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
The role of identity in ethnic conflict peace building in Northern Ireland
| Project/Area Number |
20K02064
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| Research Institution | Aichi Prefectural University |
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Principal Investigator |
オオカドゴーフ デミエン 愛知県立大学, 外国語学部, 講師 (90867920)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2020-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | peacebuilding / peace process / ethnic conflict / northern ireland / irish republican army / ex-prisoners / ex-combatants / intergroup contact |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Data was collected last March, but COVID lockdown ended data collection early. Therefore, data collection remains incomplete. However, enough data was collected to write one peer-reviewed article which was published in January and continue with an analysis, albeit clipped. The article looked at the failure of hybrid peace building in the northern Irish peace process, and it outlined and assessed the ex-prisoners' peace building work and its potential to move the peace process forward in the face of elite level stalemate. It was printed in the Journal of Global Studies, published by Doshisha University in Kyoto. Further data collection, in the form of interviews, was undertaken via the Internet, but important field observation data has not been possible. Therefore, there is a reappraisal about the potential scope of the research. Not having access to observational data might weaken the perceived reliablity of the interview data, so other sources are being sought, particularly news reports and other written material pertaining to the peace building work the prisoners have been involved in. Contact with ex-prisoners is also ongoing with a view to deepening contact with current participants and widening the cohort. I am attending meetings with a supervising professor to shape and direct the research as it unfolds in these uncertain times. I am currently writing the literature review, as well as reassessing the methodology and scope of the research in the event that observational data collect proves to be impossible due to COVID restrictions or other circumstance.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
4: Progress in research has been delayed.
Reason
The current status of the research is that it is being obstructed by the COVID pandemic. All ex-prisoner peacebuilding work has ceased in Northern Ireland, and will not recommence until later this year, at the earliest.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
Contact with ex-prisoners is ongoing with a view to deepening contact with current participants and widening the cohort. I am attending meetings with a supervising professor to shape and direct the research as it unfolds in these uncertain times. I am currently writing the literature review, as well as reassessing the methodology and scope of the research in the event that observational data collect proves to be impossible due to COVID restrictions or other circumstances.
It is hoped that field data collection can be undertaken at a later date when COVID restrictions are lifted in the UK when the ex-prisoners peace building work recommences. I am making provisional plans in the hope that I can travel to Ireland in the summer to undertake field observation. Contact has been made with other potential interviewees and potential facilitators of observational data collections opportunities.
It is hope that the literature review will be completed by the end of June and that the methodology for analysis has been fully settled and the analysis proper can commence. All of this is, of course, subject to change as the COVID situation evolves. It is hoped that the first full draft of the research with be completed by the end of September of this year.
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| Causes of Carryover |
The amount set aside for next year is to pay for travelling to Ireland for data collection. However, it is not know yet if the trip can be undertaken due to the COVID pandemic, so an airplane ticket has not been booked.
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