Channels, Fall 2018

Page 38 Holm • A Call to Peace the bodies were never found, in 2001, they declared the missionaries to be dead, an event that I do remember. Furthermore, I remember my parents having to do training in case they were ever kidnapped. As an eight-year-old in boarding school, I had a small bag packed so I was ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Overall, I remember being terrified that either my parents or I would get kidnapped by FARC. Because of my background, I was especially interested when the Colombian government signed a peace deal with FARC in 2016. As I did further research, I realized that both the Colombian peace process and the Northern Irish peace process made excellent case studies to help better understand how peace processes occur. There are two peace processes that well exemplify the peace processes following the Cold- War. The first is the peace process between the Irish Republic Army and the English government in Northern Ireland. The tensions in Ireland stretch back centuries. The modern conflict began in 1921 with the creation of Northern Ireland. However, the conflict began in earnest in the 1960s during a period known as the Troubles. It wasn’t until the 1980s that the peace process led to the Good Friday agreement in 1998 (Mac Ginty, & Darby 2002). The second is the peace process in Colombia between the Left-Wing guerrilla groups and the Colombian government. The conflict between the two groups began in the 1960s and produced the largest number of internally displaced people in the world at that time (Maldonado, 2017). Peace talks began in 2012, and the peace deal was ratified in 2016. Both peace processes began in the post-Cold War era (For statistical analysis see Figure 1). As such, they benefited from the involvement of third-party actors. Additionally, the Colombian and Northern Ireland peace processes were connected via Juan Manuel Santos, who was the President of Colombia during their peace process. When he was a young man, President Santos spent time in the United Kingdom. While there, he experienced an IRA bombing. While he escaped uninjured, he was still greatly impacted by the experience. Santos credits the Good Friday Agreement with inspiring him to push for the peace process in Colombia. He also credits the Northern Irish peace process for many elements of the Colombian peace process (“Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos recalls IRA bomb while student in London,” 2016). Comparing the peace processes of Northern Ireland and Colombia showcases the importance of third-party actors and demonstrates the necessity of having a framework for a successful peace process, prior to beginning the official talks. Literature Review Since the Cold War ended, there has been an increase in peace deals and peace processes across the world. Because of this, there have been ample opportunities for scholars to study and examine how peace processes work. Since the end of the Cold War, there has been a shift in how peace deals are carried out. Notably, third-party mediators have become much more involved in peacekeeping and peacemaking. Additionally, organizations, such as the United Nations have taken a huge role in conflict mediation (Crocker et al., 1999). It is critical to the understanding of conflict mediation to think of peace as a process rather than an event that culminates in a peace deal. Guns and Government defines a peace process as needing to meet five criteria. These criteria are that the protagonists are willing to negotiate in good faith, the key actors are included in the