Journal of Co-operative Studies 54(1), 49-52

Abstract

Post-peace agreement Northern Ireland offers a perfect example of an economic recovery driven by capital accumulation instead of long-term social needs. The result is an increasingly vulnerable environment where neoliberal economic policies leave many communities behind. For those, the peace dividends promised at the beginning of the peace process have far from materialised (Knox, 2016). Left to fend for themselves, some have looked towards alternative economics to sustain decent employment and foster ways of living with dignity. Even then, we are left wondering whether social economics can be co-opted into diverting the responsibility for economic recovery away from political and economic elites. Yet, in this “toxic mix of neoliberalism and sectarianism” (Murtagh & McFerran, 2015, p. 1598), can collective economic practices forge a way towards resisting the violence of the neoliberal peace?

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