Encouraging political parties to share power in a divided society can be a messy, frustrating and awkward business, as Northern Ireland has shown in recent years. Doing nothing, however, risks the danger that that society may slip backwards into anarchy. Because of that, the Irish and British governments must persevere in their efforts to restore the devolved institutions which were established under the Belfast Agreement and to bring about new policing arrangements. Nothing is served by a vacuum.
At their meeting in London yesterday, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair considered the difficulties arising from all-party talks in Northern Ireland and prepared to publish details of a way forward in advance of the "marching season". Mr Blair had hoped to announce the restoration of the Northern Assembly with limited powers, coupled with an absolute deadline for the restoration of a power-sharing Executive. But fierce opposition from Sinn Féin and the SDLP convinced Mr Ahern that such an approach would be counter-productive, particularly as there was no guarantee that the Democratic Unionist Party would share power with Sinn Féin at the designated time.
In spite of tactical disagreements, the governments will take comfort from the latest report of the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC), which reflects a changed security environment in Northern Ireland following IRA decommissioning last year. The IMC found that the IRA no longer presented a terrorist threat and had taken a strategic decision to follow a political path. Its members had been instructed not to engage in public disorder. As a result, most illegal activities could be dealt with by the PSNI. However, dissident republicans and loyalist paramilitaries posed a continuing threat to the security forces. And there remained, the report concluded, "risk of significant and unpredictable public disorder".
That uncertainty, in itself, poses a danger to the democratic process. But, as Alliance Party leader David Ford warned at his party conference last weekend: a more immediate threat involves growing public cynicism because of the failure of politicians to accept their responsibilities in relation to the economy, public services and the environment. Should that hiatus continue, he warned, the electorate would conclude that politics had no real contribution to make to their lives.
The IMC is due to make a further report on the activities and attitudes of paramilitary groupings next month. It is likely to be more positive about the IRA than last January's assessment when it questioned whether it had decommissioned all its weapons and ended criminal activity. A favourable judgment would put pressure on the DUP. But lack of trust remains a major obstacle. Mr Ahern has indicated that if the Northern parties cannot or will not move forward, the governments will bring forward proposals to restore devolved government later this year. The road ahead will be difficult.