This volume contains a re-examination of the Northern Ireland conflict and the ongoing peace process, using previously unreleased archival material. The book looks at choices and omissions by the main political parties and the British and Irish states that lay behind the emergence and persistence of the "Troubles."

The question of how to move beyond contentious pasts exercises societies across the globe. Focusing on Northern Ireland, this book examines how historical injustices continue to haunt contemporary lives, and how institutional and juridical approaches to 'dealing' with the past often give way to a silencing consensus or re-marginalising victims.

The question of how to move beyond contentious pasts exercises societies across the globe. Focusing on Northern Ireland, this book examines how historical injustices continue to haunt contemporary lives, and how institutional and juridical approaches to 'dealing' with the past often give way to a silencing consensus or re-marginalising victims.