A new generation of peace?: Meanings of everyday peace among the post-accord youth in Northern Ireland

Since the peace process in Northern Ireland began in the mid-1990s and especially after the signing of the 1998 peace accord, things have been improving for the locals, at least on some scales. The youth, however, are an over-looked age group at the mercy of their elders. Even if violence and conflict have not fully been overcome, peaceful acts and attitudes exist in the everyday. The youth, often left outside formal decision making and processes related to peace, are perpetrators of everyday peace through their attitudes and subsequent behaviors. The aim of this research is to investigate the different meanings of everyday peace as told by the youth in Northern Ireland. The local meanings are sought from open-ended answers of 16-year-olds to the Young Life and Times survey from the years 2003, 2009, 2011 and 2018. Through the understanding of everyday peace created, this research seeks to further develop the theoretical understanding of everyday peace. The answers are grouped to form three main themes that constitute the core meanings of everyday peace: blame deferral, respect and the future. In the theme of blame deferral, the youth identify problems for everyday peace, in the theme of respect they elaborate their respectful attitudes, and in the theme of future the youths’ perceptions of their futures are elaborated. The results form a local understanding of everyday peace formulated from the open-ended answers of the youth in Northern Ireland. The research concludes that the youth separate themselves from the previous generations and the tumultuous recent past of Northern Ireland, respect the diverse community of Northern Ireland beyond traditional divisions and are willing to construct a new generation of peace. The research also questions the binary of positive and negative peace through local meanings of everyday peace