The difficulties that have dogged the Northern Ireland peace process and the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement are rarely out of the headlines. This book gives an insight into one of the issues at stake for the people of Northern Ireland – the long-term impact of political violence on the civil population.

The result of extensive research among local communities, and drawing on survey and interview evidence, Northern Ireland After the Good Friday Agreement sets this issue within the context of past conflict and the continuing sectarian violence of the present. In particular it presents the views of ordinary people about their personal experiences of political violence and the impact it has had upon their lives.

Moreover, it shows how the Troubles have affected the young people of the region, and looks at the problems facing a society coming out of a protracted period of low-intensity conflict.

Mike Morrissey was Senior Researcher on The Cost of the Troubles Study and is the Director of the Urban Institute, University of Ulster. He is the co-author of Northern Ireland After the Good Friday Agreement (Pluto, 2002) and City Visions: Imagining Place, Enfranchising People (Pluto, 2002).

Marie Smyth is an author and academic, who previously held the post of Chair in International Relations at the University of Surrey. An expert on political violence, she is the author of Truth and justice after violent conflict: managing violent pasts (Routledge, 2007), Inside the U D A: Volunteers and Violence (Pluto, 2003), Northern Ireland After the Good Friday Agreement (Pluto, 2002) and Personal Accounts of Northern Ireland's Troubles (Pluto, 2000).

Preface
1. Putting the Past in its Place. issues of victim-hood and reconciliation in the Northern Ireland peace process
2. The Importance of Place. disaggregating the Troubles
3. A Special Kind of Victim. sectarian killing
4. The Young as Victims
5. Experiencing the Troubles
6. Severe Experience and Extreme Impact of the Troubles
7. The Troubles. The Experiences of Young People
Conclusions; Justice, Truth and Closure
Appendix 1: Constructing a database on sectarian assassination
Appendix 2: Background to the Northern Ireland Survey
Appendix 3: The Cost of the Troubles Study Questionnaire
Appendix 4: The YouthQuest 2000 Questionnaire