Northern Ireland's peace process brought an end to Europe's longest-running post war armed conflict; yet the reasons for its emergence and outcome remain contested. This book charts the origin and development of the attempts to bring peace to Northern Ireland. It examines these developments in the context of the time in which they occurred. Many criticisms have been levelled at the process and its outcome in recent years, and this work explores the legitimacy of such accounts. It argues that critics often fail to appreciate the considerations and restraints that were acting on the key parties and individuals during the period. Drawing on a wealth of primary and secondary sources, the book offers the fullest account of the transformation in Northern Ireland's politics currently available. It explains why a process that was intended to result in a power-sharing government, led by the 'moderate' parties in Northern Ireland, resulted in the triumph of the 'extremes'. The complexities of the peace process, from its clandestine origins in the early 1990s, through the perpetual crises of the following two decades and the shocks of the Brexit period, are explained.

The book argues that although the peace process can certainly be seen as a success, its outcome was not what was intended or envisaged by its architects.