4. The political parties

During the violent years of the Troubles, those political parties that disavowed the lethal violence of paramilitaries—both nationalist and unionist—were generally referred to as ‘the constitutional parties’. In reality, all political actors in Northern Ireland found themselves in a situation where they tried to turn violence to their political advantage. ‘The political parties’ first outlines the different strategies of the ‘moderate’ Ulster Unionist Party and the ‘ultra’ Democratic Unionist Party before considering how nationalism came together to dominate the Catholic electorate in the shape of the Social Democratic and Labour Party. It then discusses the political processes that led to the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985 and the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.