Considering both perspectives in the light of Northern Ireland and Iraq yields some additional insight into the viability of partitioning as a means of resolving ethnic conflict. In Northern Ireland, partitioning was attempted and physically enforced to a degree, though there were always ethnic Irish living in the North and even some British/Protestants living in Ireland proper. That partitioning failed to end the ethnic conflict on this island is painfully clear with even a cursory glance at the last decades of the twentieth century (violence tapered off dramatically in the first decade of the twenty-first century due in large part to a changing geopolitical scene): bombings of civilian areas, assassinations, and open resentment and street violence were major problems in Belfast and throughout Northern Ireland, with parts of Ireland proper affects as well. This situation highlights one of the key problems with partitioning as a means of addressing ethnic violence...
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