THE ULSTER UNIONIST PARTY DURING THE PEACE PROCESS

Abstract / Résumé

The inconclusive ending m 1992 of what had euphemistically become known as the « constitutional talks » process (1), led to an acceleration of the dialogue between John Hume, the leader of the SDLP, and Gerry Adams, President of Sinn Fein, which had been going on sporadically since January 1988. These contacts were crucial building blocks to the IRA cease-fire of 31 August 1994 and the concerns of unionist politics reflected the development of the Hume/Adams debate and growing consensus within Insh nationalism. After the collapse of the Mayhew talks m the Autumn of 1992, John Hume made it his personal pnonty to work towards obtaining an IRA cease-fire to provide a new environment for political discussions to take place. Unionist reaction to the Hume/Adams dialogue was predictable. They saw it as a potential threat on a number of levels. On the one hand, it would provide the IRA with a renewed motivation