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Other long-standing issues continue to cause friction. Parades and marches held mainly but not exclusively by Protestant groups often have heavily sectarian undertones. The same is true of flags and emblems, displayed by all sides on lampposts and buildings. Moreover, Northern Ireland’s leaders have never developed a comprehensive approach to the legacy of past violence, as some other postconflict societies have. Efforts to prosecute those responsible for killings and to pursue other initiatives have been uneven, which analysts say has hindered reconciliation.
These issues parades, flags, and the legacy of the past were the subject of 2013 negotiations chaired by Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, and Meghan L. O’Sullivan, a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and now on CFR’s Board of Directors. The talks, which involved the five main political parties, did not produce an agreement, though many of the proposals including establishing