Identity change after conflict: Ethnicity, boundaries and belonging in the two Irelands

Since the late 1960s, Northern Ireland was the site of violent conflicts between Unionist-Protestants and Catholic-Nationalists, which ended with the 1998 Good Friday agreement. In the 2000s, there was hope on both sides for more positive relations. However, the flag protests that occurred between 2012 and 2013 brought divisive identities and goals back to the forefront, and many concluded that a strong ethno-religious identity never left Northern Ireland. In contrast, in the Republic of Ireland, the Catholic Church was becoming more and more separate from politics and social life. In 2015, voters approved a referendum that allowed for same-sex marriage, a social outcome often associated with modernization.