Plying nostrums or exporting peace models? An examination of the contradictions between the Northern Irish peace process and international peacebuilding

The proclaimed success of the Northern Ireland peace process (NPP) has made it a model for other divided regions. Simultaneously, debate has arisen over the exact merits of the peace process and whether it can really be seen as a triumph of intercommunal accommodation. In this article I analyze what lessons the NPP may provide for modes of international peacebuilding based on the triadic structure of democratization, neoliberalism, and civil society development. I argue that the NPP should be seen as anomalous or an outlier to the common discourse of international peacebuilding as defined by the liberal peace.