Flying flags for conflict and peace: Cyprus, Korea, and Northern Ireland compared

This article examines the role of flags in conflict and peacebuilding using the cases of Cyprus, Korea, and Northern Ireland. It begins by discussing flags’ association with nationalist politics and state power, yet also their potential to promote an ‘everyday nationalism’ which can support ‘everyday peace’. Then it introduces the three case studies, divided geographical units (two islands and a peninsula), which experience both traditional nationalist pressures towards ongoing division and (to varying extents) reconciliation efforts towards integration within a new political structure. The analysis explores these tensions in each case, with a focus on how flags have been used, contested, and envisioned during peace efforts. The Discussion suggests that attempts at establishing shared flags have thus far failed to gain wide acceptance due to the resilient organisational and ideological power of rival nationalisms. It draws comparative insights on the ‘post-historical’ and ‘counter nationalist’ meanings advanced by the shared flags within the case studies and suggests that these symbols at least served as a tool, for actors at all levels, to envisage and communicate an alternative political future comprising new inter-communal relationships.