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Combating America’s Toxic Polarization: Lessons from Northern Ireland’s Troubles

The Fulcrum

Amid growing polarization in America, Belfast has been on my mind.

Growing up in the 1990s, the name “Belfast� was synonymous with conflict and war, as pro-British Protestants and pro-Irish Republic Catholics fought for decades with guns, bombs, and murderous attacks. Following the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, which largely put to rest “The Troubles� in Northern Ireland, today the city (and all of the six counties making up Northern Ireland) has made tremendous strides to put aside civil strife.