Professor Ed Cairns, University of Ulster, Ireland
After generations of bitter quarrels, how can victims of violent acts see members of the opposing group as worthy of forgiveness? This study seeks to identify barriers to forgiveness and to reveal how these barriers can be overcome.

Northern Ireland has been in the grip of bitter sectarian violence for over a quarter of a century. With a fragile peace finally at hand, what will make it possible for victims and aggressors to pass each other on the streets each day? Could forgiveness help reconcile life-long enemies in this war-torn corner of the world?

These are just some of the questions that Professor Ed Cairns, a psychologist from Ulster University, will address in his landmark research on intergroup conflict and forgiveness in Northern Ireland.

"Political peace does not mean there will be peace in the hearts of the victims," says Cairns. "To move on, we must deal with the past -- because sleeping dogs never lie." Cairns points to the Balkans as an example of a region where age-old animosities have returned to haunt a new generation.

Working with victims from different factions, Cairns is conducting what he calls "the first extensive theoretical and empirical study of intergroup forgiveness." Building on the work of British social psychologist and identity theorist Henri Tajfl, Cairns' study is based on the premise that we are more likely to forgive violent acts perpetrated by members of our own religious, ethnic or political "groups."

Cairns has already held focus groups to test attitudes towards forgiveness with Protestant, Catholic, and mixed groups. Next, after conducting a random survey that explores respondents' identity as victims or aggressors, their sense of group affiliation, and their attitudes towards other groups, Cairns will recruit paid volunteers to take part in a series of studies that explore social identity and forgiveness. Cairns will ask participants, for example, to take part in workshops where they imagine that the person who hurt them was a member of their own social group, or of their family. By isolating key variables and evaluating a range of intervention techniques, Cairns hopes to shed light on any barriers to forgiveness that are characteristic of intergroup conflict -- and on how individuals and communities can begin to take those barriers down.

Despite his hopes, Cairns has no illusions that forgiveness is a panacea.

"Is it ethical to ask people if they'll forgive and does this imply that people 'should' forgive?" he asks. "The assumption is that deep down everyone would like to forgive but in fact many people don't want to -- especially in Northern Ireland where the wounds run deep." Preliminary focus group data indicate that many Northern Irish -- Protestants, Catholics, Unionists and Republicans alike -- prefer to hold on to, rather than forgive, the past.

Yet, as the country crawls towards peace, Cairns clings to the belief that for some, his work will help ease the pain caused by decades of the 'Troubles.' "I never thought I 'd reach a day where I could think about forgiveness in Northern Ireland," says Cairns. "But here I am."

Dr. Ed Cairns is Professor of Psychology in the School of Psychology and Communication Sciences at the University of Ulster in Coleraine, Northern Ireland He is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society and is associated with the Division of Peace Psychology of the American Psychological Association. His most recent book is Children and Political Violence, published by Blackwell in 1996.

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