Securing the Future of Peace in Northern Ireland: Lessons from the Good Friday Agreement.

The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), signed on April 10, 1998, brought an end to the sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles. The agreement was accepted by both communities and included loyalist and republican paramilitary groups agreeing to maintain ceasefires and total disarmament. The GFA created three new sets of political institutions, including a democratically elected Northern Ireland Assembly in Belfast, which guaranteed power-sharing between the unionist and republican communities. The United Kingdom's departure from the European Union has had a destabilizing effect on Northern Ireland, rekindling debates on the status of the Irish border, which was arguably the most contested issue at the heart of the Troubles. The GFA's 25th anniversary comes at a strange time as Northern Ireland is without a government for the sixth time since its assembly was established in 1998 in Belfast.