The politics of transition? Explaining political crises in the implementation of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement

The implementation of the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement has been marked by recurring crises. While each of these has its specific causes, they arc symptomatic of contradictions in the underlying conditions of conflict. These made the Belfast Agreement possible, but they also create difficulties in its implementation. The Agreement echoes - not least in its ambiguities - the underlying contradictions, reconstituting the political terrain in terms of them. This has reproduced the tendency toward conflict even among the supporters of the Agreement, whose different responses and ends-in-view reflect the objective uncertainties in the situation. Political crises are likely to continue even after the full implementation of the Agreement.