In the context of political violence during the riots, the agreement forced participants to find “exclusively democratic and peaceful means to resolve political differences.” Two aspects were taken into account: the vague wording of certain provisions, called “constructive ambiguity”[8], helped ensure the adoption of the agreement and allowed the debate on some of the most controversial issues to be postponed. These include extra-military dismantling, police reform and the standardisation of Northern Ireland. The previous text contains only four articles; It is this short text that is the legal agreement, but it contains the latter agreement in its timetables. [7] Technically, this proposed agreement can be distinguished as a multi-party agreement, unlike the Belfast Agreement itself. [7] On 11 January 2020, on the basis of the New Decade, New Approach Agreement, the Executive and the Power-Sharing Assembly were reinstated, to the participation of the five main political parties in Northern Ireland. The agreement came after many years of complex discussions, proposals and compromises. A lot of people have made a great contribution. Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern were the leaders of the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland at the time. The presidency was chaired by U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell. [3] The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or the Belfast Agreement (Irish: Comhaonté Aoine an Chéasta or Comhaonté Bhéal Feirste; Ulster-Scots: Guid Friday Greeance or Bilfawst Greeance)[1] is a couple of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that put an end to most of the violence of the Troubles, a political conflict in Northern Ireland that had erupted since the late 1960s. This was an important development in the Northern Ireland peace process in the 1990s. Northern Ireland`s current system of de-decentralized government is based on the agreement.
The agreement also created a number of institutions between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, as well as between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The main themes addressed by Sunningdale and dealt with in the Belfast Agreement are the principle of self-determination, the recognition of the two national identities, intergovernmental cooperation between the British and Ireland and legal procedures for compulsory power-sharing, such as inter-community voting and the D`Hondt system for appointing ministers to the executive. [24] [25] Former IRA member and journalist Tommy McKearney says the main difference is the British government`s intention to negotiate a comprehensive agreement including the IRA and the most intransigent unionists. [26] With regard to the right to self-determination, two qualifications are recorded by the writer Austen Morgan.