Northern Ireland begins 'new era' "Northern Ireland's major Protestant and Catholic parties joined together Tuesday to form a power-sharing government, marking a "new era of politics" and an end to three decades of sectarian conflict in the province." Internal cohesion in the sense that both sides agree to refrain from violent means to achieve political ends . One could argue that, on the part of the protestants, there has over the decades been a decline in the very strong community cohesion which in turn has now led to this solution. A downside of very cohesive societies is intolerance and too much of it may stifle creative thought/innovation. For further thoughts on the causes behind recent developments, see comment below (4 May 2007).