ABSTRACT

Northern Ireland is a society which has suffered communal strife for decades, a result of divergent political and religious identities. Since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the violence associated with this tension has receded. This article looks at some of the different areas where there has been inter-communal conflict: political structures, elections, policing, language, employment and treatment of victims. It identifies the solutions and identifies the tools to implement those solutions. Legislation has been used as a tool of choice to regulate that diversity, to provide protection and to solve problems resulting from that diversity. Legislation is not the inevitable tool to use, softer forms of regulation are also available. There are two suggested reasons for the reliance upon legislation. Firstly, in the absence of trust between political parties, legislation offers an enforceable solution which is legally binding upon all parties. Secondly, legislation can be seen as a concrete and tangible achievement.

摘要

由于政治和宗教身份的差异，北爱尔兰是一个经历了数十年社会冲突的社会。自从1998年的《耶稣受难日协定》以来，与这种紧张局势有关的暴力已经消退。本文着眼于族群间冲突的一些不同领域：政治结构，选举，警务，语言，就业和受害者待遇。它确定了解决方案，并确定了实现这些解决方案的工具。立法已被用作调节该多样性，提供保护并解决由该多样性引起的问题的选择工具。立法不是使用的必然工具，也可以使用较宽松的法规形式。建议依赖立法有两个原因。首先，在政党之间缺乏信任的情况下，立法提供了一种可强制执行的解决方案，对所有政党都具有法律约束力。第二，立法可以看作是一项具体的，切实的成就。