北愛爾蘭兩大族群之間的衝突一向被視為英國的內政,缺乏政府間的力量或國際面向的介入。但在一九七O年代初以來各項和平方案的提出,例如一九七三年的桑寧戴爾協議、一九八五年的英愛協議、一九九三年的唐寧街宣言、一九九五年的聯合架構文件、與一九九八年的受難日協議等,已逐漸加入「多面向」的特質,可以說整個和平的進程就是一個包含北愛內部制度安排、北愛包容性擴大、南北愛機制建立、英愛政府間合作、英愛地域間協商、國際力量介入的多面向累積與互動的結果。北愛得以從動盪不安的一九七O年代,進入到稍見和平曙光的二十一世紀,政府間與國際面向對於北愛和平進程的推進,具有重要的影響。
The conflict between unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland had long been seen as domestic affairs of the United Kingdom, lacking an inter- governmental and international dimension in the search for peace, until the early 1970s saw a series of negotiations initiated by London. As a result, some peace proposals, including the 1973 Sunningdale Agreement, 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, 1993 Downing Street Declaration, 1955 Joint Framework Document, and 1998 Good Friday Agreement, were presented. These proposals began to involve multi-dimensional factors, such as internal institutional arrangements and inclusiveness of political participation in Northern Ireland, south-north cross-border cooperation, east-west inter-governmental consultation, regional partnership in Ireland and the UK, and international elements. The peace process of the last thirty years in Northern Ireland has brought the province hope for lasting peace due to the indicated inter-governmental and international dimensions.