rse and only got involved when the situation looked very bad. During the 1970s the scars of the conflict were allowed to remain very evident, perhaps in the hope that the sight of damage and destruction would shock the public into rejecting violence. However, in the 1980s there was another shift in government policy to create an air of normality. Damage was repaired quickly and the dividing lines between the communities were marked by environmental improvement schemes, which it was thought might create more optimistic attitudes, and make the conflict irrelevant. The hunger strikes of 1981 signaled a further intensification of the struggle. Little progress was made through a campaign to win over the 'hearts and minds' of those people who supported paramilitary groups by improving their quality of life and creating a more fair and non-discriminatory society. In 1985 the British and Irish governments signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement which indicated their willingness to accept each other's goodwill and work together with the common aim of destroying the paramilitary threat. It was hoped that a combination of tighter security measures and the involvement of the Irish government in policy making would achieve this. It was strongly opposed by the unionist community, which objected to the role given to the Irish government in the domestic affairs of Northern Ireland. The IRA also perceived the co-operation between the British and Irish governments as a threat. However, as a treaty between two states, it was an attempt to create a structure for dealing with the conflict which was impenetrable to political and community pressure within Northern Ireland. Consequently the parties realized that they needed new strategies which might accommodate the interests of their opponents and in this way the Anglo-Irish Agreement became the stimulus for the creation of a new basis on which a peace process could be built. The awareness of o...
