Description:

The Buffett Institute for Global Affairs has launched a yearlong initiative focused on international diplomacy in turbulent times. The series will explore key moments in recent diplomacy through lunchtime lectures throughout the winter quarter on the landmark peace processes of the last few decades. Lunch will be provided beginning at 12:15 p.m.

Mary McCain, Director of the Irish Studies PhD program at DePaul University, will give a lecture on the Good Friday Agreement.

Northern Ireland is the northeastern corner of the island of Ireland that remained (and remains today) part of the U.K. even as the rest of island became what's known today as the Republic of Ireland. It is a region in which history, memory, culture, religion and politics have for centuries created many kinds of conflict between two large communities: Unionists, who historically tended to be Protestants, and nationalists, who historically tended to be Catholics. The period from the late 1960s to the late 1990s known as The Troubles was an era of political paralysis and often shocking violence. In the mid-1990s, representatives of the political parties and the largest paramilitary groups, alongside others, began a lengthy process of negotiation that in 1998 produced the Good Friday, or Belfast, Agreement. This talk will explain the background of and contemporary context for this agreement, its main elements, and the ongoing challenges of implementing it.

Please note that 720 University Place is not an ADA-accessible space. Increasing physical access to buildings and facilities is a goal of the University, but not all buildings and venues have been updated.