Taoisigh & Prime Ministers’ policies towards extremists in Northern Ireland 1985-1996

A Learning Process?

Abstract

Several different explanations of policy change based on notions of learning have emerged in policy literature. These explanations can largely be divided into those that deal with policy learning and those relating to policy adaptation. Policy learning is a fundamental process that involves re-thinking primary values, altering the goals of policy and constructing complex cause and effect chains as the result of processing new knowledge in the policy area provided by epistemic communities. Policy adaptation, on the other hand, is an ad hoc process of change where fundamental values remain constant and only the means of achieving goals change not the goals themselves. This paper applies these possible explanations to the case of the policy change effected by the British and Irish governments in relation to negotiating with extremists in Northern Ireland 1985-1996; a policy change that has been cited as being pivotal to the success of that peace process.