The 1990s has been one of the most momentous of the entire post-war period. Nowhere more so than in Northern Ireland where a 30 year war finally and painfully began to wind down - starting in August 1994 with the first Republican cease-fire and concluding over three years later with the historic Good Friday Agreement. But what brought the war to an unexpected end? Why did the IRA decide to abandon the armed struggle? And what are the chances for a permanent settlement to the Irish Question? These are at least three of the questions this wide-ranging study seeks to address.