 | Devolution of Power to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland: the Inner History : Tony Blair's Cabinet Papers, 1997 Volume Two, the Representative Government in Northern Ireland «Raina's documentation provides invaluable insight into the high-powered and high-level political calculations that made it happen. It is perhaps the most signal achievement of the era and this expertly curated collection on its genesis and evolution is unquestionably of permanent value.» (Professor Marc Mulholland, Professor of Modern History, Oxford) This is the second volume in which Peter Raina presents the Blair government's Devolution papers. Here, the focus shifts to Northern Ireland in the midst of the «Troubles» - a situation where discrimination and bigotry in a society divided by religious and national affiliations had erupted into hatred, violence and fear. Tony Blair, his minister Mo Mowlam and a team of civil servants and others reached for American help and worked intensely with Gerry Adams, Leader of Sinn Fein, and with the government of the Republic in the South of Ireland to bring the warring factions together. Their efforts were concentrated into an astonishing single month. The Devolution plans, as such, have not stood the test of time but, with effort from all sides, a fragile truce was achieved and a virtual end to the «Troubles». This was an enormous achievement. The papers are an object lesson in how patient diplomacy and negotiation can work, even in the most intractable of situations. Peter Rainaread Modern History at St Catherine´s College, Oxford. Later he worked on various aspects of British history in Oxford, as Senior Research Associate, the Graduate Centre, Balliol College; Honorary Member of High Table and Member of the Senior Common Room, Christ Church; Associate Member of Nuffield College; Honorary Member of the Senior Common Room, Magdalen College; Visiting Research Scholar, Faculty of History. He has also been a Visiting Fellow of the Institute of Historical Research, School of Advanced Studies, London; the Centre of International Studies, Cambridge; and the Centre for International Studies, LSE. He was granted High Table Privileges at Peter House and at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He is a Life Member, Clare Hall, Cambridge and a Knight Companion Grand Cross of the Order of St Stanislas. |
