北愛爾蘭地區從英國墾殖以來即存有英國新教徒移民與愛爾蘭天主教徒的雙邊族群問題，後者在英國統治之下長期居於弱勢地位。1949年，愛爾蘭共和國獨立之後，聯合派新教徒支持北愛爾蘭留在英國，共和派天主教徒則主張北愛與愛爾蘭共和國統一。從1960年代末期開始，北愛爾蘭問題因為雙方暴動頻仍而白熱化，自此經歷了30多年的嚴重暴力衝突時期，恐怖攻擊、流血事件造成社會動盪不安。在多方的努力促成之下，英國、愛爾蘭及北愛爾蘭各主要黨派終於在1998年簽訂了貝爾法斯特和平協議，此為北愛爾蘭和平所出現的第一道曙光，北愛的和平進程亦自此步上軌道，雙邊族群妥協以權力共享的模式，共同治理北愛爾蘭地方政府。然而自此成立的權力共享自治政府運行並不順利，雙邊族群難以達成共識並多次造成自治政府停擺。經過長達五年具歷史意義的談判之後，民主聯合黨與共和派新芬黨以及英、愛的領導人終於在2006年達成恢復北愛地方分權政府的聖安德魯斯協議，2007北愛爾蘭新權力分享政府正式恢復運作。
本論文針對當代的北愛爾蘭和平進程做進一步的分析與探討，期能夠建立一份具有完整性的北愛爾蘭專題研究。本文的研究目的為在一個具有國家認同及族群衝突的社會中，如何由衝突走向能夠「共存」。
本文以歷史研究與文獻分析作為研究方法，內容共分為六章，論述架構如下：首先第一章為緒論；第二章為北愛爾蘭問題的歷史進程，討論愛爾蘭天主教徒與英國新教徒政治、宗教、族群之衝突淵源，進而分析愛爾蘭問題如何轉變為北愛爾蘭問題；第三章為北愛爾蘭問題的解決途徑，包括英國與愛爾蘭共同解決北愛問題的過程、美國對北愛爾蘭和平進程的影響以及最終促成的貝爾法斯特和平協議；第四章探討根據和平協議所建立的北愛爾蘭權力共享自治政府，首先討論地方自治政府的運作模式、初期運作實況及所遭遇的垮台危機，再探討關於北愛爾蘭和平進程的重大突破以及其它對於北愛和平發展有所阻礙的因素；第五章為北愛爾蘭之轉型正義，討論英國及北愛爾蘭政府對於過去近40年來北愛衝突事件之受害者所進行的轉型正義行動及警政制度改革，並探究轉型正義對於北愛爾蘭族群衝突之影響；最後第六章提出本文結論。

The ethnic problems between the English protestant settlers and the Irish Catholics have existed ever since the days of British colonization. Under British rule, the Irish Catholics have remained a disadvantaged group for a long period.  In 1949, the Republic of Ireland proclaimed its independence. Whilst the protestant unionists then supported Northern Ireland remaining a part of the United Kingdom, the catholic republicans appealed that Northern Ireland should be united with the Republic of Ireland. Because of the frequent violence between the two sides, the problems with Northern Ireland have become increasingly heated since the end of the 1960’s. Northern Ireland, as a result, has experienced severe social turbulence over the 30 years or so, when there were serious violent conflicts, terrorism attacks and bloody fights. 
With the efforts of many people, the major political parties of England, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were finally concluded with the Belfast Agreement in 1998, bringing the first gleam of hope for peace in Northern Ireland. The long way toward a peaceful Northern Ireland has since been on track. A compromise has been reached between the ethnic groups of both sides that they would jointly rule the local government of Northern Ireland, sharing the power and responsibilities. The operation of the power-sharing autonomous government, which was established thereafter, was however unsuccessful. The difficulties in achieving any consensus among the ethnic groups of the two sides have, many times, led to the suspension of the autonomous government. After a lengthy yet historical negotiation of five years, a consensus was finally reached among the Democratic Unionist Party, the Republican Sinn Fein Party, as well as the English and British leaders. The St. Andrews Agreement was finally established in 2006, which restored the devolution of the Northern Ireland. In 2007, the administration of the new power-sharing government of the Northern Ireland was formally restored.   

   The research provides an in-depth analysis and discussion on the Northern Ireland’s progress toward peace, aiming to establishing an integrated research paper on the Northern Ireland. The purpose of this study is to probe the approaches adopted by a society, which had been suffering from problems in national identification and ethnic conflicts, to move from “conflicts” to “coexistence”. 
    The research methodologies include historical studies and documentary analysis. This paper contains six chapters. The research structure is outlined below:
The first chapter contains an introduction to this research. In the second chapter, the author explains the historical background of the Northern Irish problems and discussed on the reasons of political, religious and ethnic conflicts between the Irish Catholics and the English Protestants. Further analysis is made on how the problems of Ireland have evolved into the Northern Irish problem. The third chapter discusses the process to solve the Northern Irish problems, including the problem-solving process jointly participated by the British and Irish governments, the U.S. influence on Northern Ireland’s progress toward peace, and the Belfast Agreement which was reached eventually. In the fourth chapter, the author further explores the power-sharing, autonomous government of the Northern Ireland, which has been established based on the Belfast Agreement. The initial discussion is focused on the administrative models adopted by the local government, the operational progress at the preliminary stage and the crisis of suspension encountered by the government. Secondarily, the author probes the significant breakthroughs achieved in Northern Ireland’s peace progress, as well as the factors impairing such progress. The fifth chapter deals with the “transitional justice” emerged in Northern Ireland. Further exploration has been made to understand the efforts made by the British and the Northern Ireland governments for victims of the Northern Irish conflicts over the recent 40 years, including the “transitional justice” approaches and reforms in the police and political systems. In this chapter, the author also studies the impact of the transitional justice on the ethnic conflicts in Northern Ireland. In chapter 6, the author provides the conclusion for this research paper.

目錄
第一章 緒論 1
第一節 研究動機與目的 1
第二節 研究方法 4
第三節 文獻評論 5
第四節 研究範圍與限制 10
第五節 研究架構 13
第二章 北愛爾蘭問題的歷史進程 15
第一節 愛爾蘭與英國的政治、宗教衝突 15
第二節 愛爾蘭問題轉變為北愛爾蘭問題 21
第三章 北愛爾蘭問題的解決途徑 29
第一節 英國與愛爾蘭解決北愛爾蘭問題的過程 29
第二節 美國對北愛爾蘭問題的影響 34
第三節 貝爾法斯特和平協議的簽訂 36
第四章 北愛爾蘭權力共享自治政府 43
第一節 北愛自治政府架構 43
第二節 北愛自治政府之初期運作及危機 46
第三節 2006年北愛爾蘭和平進程重大突破 51
第四節 2007年新權力共享政府	53
第五節 北愛爾蘭和平隱憂：新教激進團體及恐怖組織 59
第五章 北愛爾蘭之轉型正義 65
第一節 北愛爾蘭衝突與轉型正義 65
第二節 北愛爾蘭昔日衝突之處理 73
第三節 血腥星期日平反報告 87
第四節 北愛爾蘭的族群關係 90
第五節 北愛爾蘭警政制度改革與權力下放 107
第六章 結論 113
參考文獻 117

圖目錄
圖1：論文研究架構圖 13
圖2：北愛爾蘭地圖 23
圖3：2010年民調—北愛爾蘭人民的國籍認同 103
圖4：2010年民調—北愛爾蘭人民是否支持與愛爾蘭共和國統一 104
圖5：2010年民調—北愛爾蘭人對2021年北愛爾蘭地位預測 105

表目錄
表1：北愛爾蘭權力共享政府暫停運作時間表 51
表2：2003年及2007年北愛爾蘭議會選舉席次表 56
表3：現任行政部門單位暨部長一覽表 58
表4：北愛爾蘭衝突1969年至2010年死亡人數統計表 71
表5：2004年民調—北愛人民認為真相委員會是否重要 81
表6：2004年民調—人民認為比真相委員會更好的昔日問題處理方式 82
表7：2009年民調—北愛爾蘭人民對於小孩學校類型選擇之傾向 97
表8：2009年民調—北愛爾蘭人民對於居住社區類型之意願 98
表9：2009年民調—北愛爾蘭人民對於現在與五年前族群關係之看法 100
表10：2009年民調—北愛爾蘭人民對於未來五年族群關係之看法 100
表11：2009年民調—假如北愛爾蘭人民公投結果多數選擇與愛爾蘭共和國統一，人民的反應為何？ 106

參考文獻

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吳乃德（2006），歷史與現實，台北：聯經出版
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中文期刊 / 文章： 

甘逸驊，「北愛爾蘭和平進程：政府間因素與國際勢力的介入」《問題與研究》第43卷第2期（2004），頁1-30
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邱顯平、楊小明，「北愛爾蘭民族衝突化解途徑分析」，《世界民族》 第6期，（2008），頁19-26。   
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楊肅獻，「悲情的國度：北愛爾蘭問題探索」，《歷史月刊》，第84期，（1995）頁100。

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英文期刊：

Archick, Kristin ( 2010 ), “Northern Ireland: The Peace Process,” Congressional    Research Service, USA
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