Bowdoin alumnus George Mitchell was a crucial player in the Good Friday Agreements that helped end a quarter century of conflict in Northern Ireland. This talk examines Mitchell’s role in those talks and in his wider involvement as part of a broader effort by the Clinton administration to bring peace to Northern Ireland in the 1990s. What were the reasons for Clinton’s engagement in the region? How does this relate to the wider history of Irish-American agitation over (and even involvement in) the conflict? How did Mitchell contribute to building peace in Northern Ireland, and how well does the political settlement he helped to create still endure

Dr. Peter McLoughlin is a Reader in Politics and Fellow of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s University Belfast. He specializes in the history and politics of the Northern Ireland problem, as well as its international dimensions, such as the EU influence. He has published widely on these subjects, including a book on Nobel Peace Prize winner John Hume, John Hume and the Revision of Irish Nationalism (2010). Dr McLoughlin was recently a Fulbright Scholar at Boston College where he researched the role of Irish America and the US government in both the Northern Ireland conflict and peace process.