Northern Ireland: Devolution of Power and Potential for Violence

The global economic crisis hit the United Kingdom and Ireland hard, and the recession has been especially tough on Northern Ireland. Now, on top of unemployment concerns comes tension over the transfer of police and judicial powers from the United Kingdom to Northern Ireland, in accordance with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Various factions of the Irish Republican Army are already escalating attacks against police, and the violence could worsen in the run-up to May general elections in the United Kingdom.