Good Friday Agreement

(April 1998)

   Also Belfast Agreement. The formal agreement reached by the Blair Government with the unionists, nationalists and government of the Irish Republic to pave the way for the future government of Northern Ireland. Under the terms of the settlement, as ratified by the people on either side of the border, there was to be, among other terms, a devolved assembly with law-making powers in the province, elected on the basis of proportional representation, and an executive of ten ministers who would operate on the basis of power-sharing between the leaders of the two communities.

   Ever since the conclusion of the agreement, there has been a conflict over the decommissioning of IRA weapons, the reform of the police service, the continued presence of British troops and several other issues. The Assembly and Executive were established, although they have been suspended on four occasions, as they still are today. Meanwhile, government continues via direct rule. governance A wider term than government, governance focuses not on formal governmental institutions, but on the whole range of governmental activities in each phase of the policy-making process, including the bargaining process between those representing government and the players involved in the private- and voluntary-sector bodies. Governance is about processes and systems by which we are governed. A government may be established to administer them.