The Good Friday Agreement in the Age of Brexit

It’s been 20 years since the Good Friday Agreement formally brought an end to a period in Northern Ireland known, perhaps too understatedly, as “The Troubles.” The three-decade conflict pitted Protestant Unionists, who wanted to preserve Northern Ireland’s status as part of the U.K., against Catholic Republicans, who sought to leave the U.K. and join the Republic of Ireland. Fighting among paramilitaries on both sides, as well as the British army, left roughly 3,600 dead during the period.

But then, on April 10, 1998, a breakthrough came. Under the Good Friday Agreement, sectarian violence on the island of Ireland has largely diminished; communal relations between Unionists and Republicans have improved; and the north-south border once hardened by military checkpoints and watchtowers has become almost invisible.