Some historians believe the conflicts in Northern Ireland began as long ago as 1609. At this time, Queen Elizabeth’s military was dominating the globe and, after many struggles, overtook the province of Ulster in Northern Ireland. Once the English took control the land was commandeered and British colonists began to pus

1921 brought the next level of conflict to Ireland. At this time a partition was formed between the southern part of Ireland, which became known as the Irish Free State, and Northern Ireland. This only increased the already huge conflict between the two main religions, Catholicism and Protestantism. Since Catholics made up a very small minority, representing only about one-third of the population in Northern Ireland, they were strongly discriminated against and felt severely suppressed (Darby, 1995).

Presently the parties are working toward peace once again. Since 1998 the Ulster Unionist Party and Sinn Fein have been working together to support what is known as the Good Friday Agreement. Under this agreement Northern Ireland regained it’s local government, thus reaching a fair amount of compromise and providing some feelings of contentment between the parties (Gallis, 2002).

From that time until the early 1990s, the level of conflict fluctuated between suggested power-sharing compromises and varied amounts of violence (Associated Press, 1998). From 1993 into 1994, negotiations seemed to be taking place and many people thought that a compromise or some form of agreement was in sight. “When the IRA announced an open-ended cease-fire at the end of August 1994 (followed by a loyalist cease-fire six weeks later), Northern Ireland seemed at least on the brink of a durable peace,” (The Economist, 1996). However, in 1995, the parties were again becoming suspicious of each other and the IRA’s political party, Sinn Fein, was becoming frustrated at the lack of acknowledgment they were receiving and the violence began again.

While “outbreaks in Belfast continue to hinder economic efforts, the past decade of globalization brought hints of promise to the civil war-ravaged province,” (Guynn, 2001). The probability of peace combined with globalization has brought “tens of thousands of new jobs, increased foreign investment, new office and apartment buildings and new growth in high-technology, retail and entertainment,” (Guynn, 2001). This could mean an eventual turnaround for the Irish economy.

Unfortunately, the global effects of Sep

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