The achievement of the Belfast Agreement, reached at Stormont on Good Friday 1998, is historic. However, it is widely misunderstood. It is an international agreement between the UK and Irish states, which entered into force on 2 December 1999.

It is premissed upon, and promises, a transition from terrorism to democracy.

The Belfast Agreement provides essentially for Northern Ireland devolution (with additional north-south and east-west institutions) within the 1920-22 partition settlement.

The Belfast Agreement: a practical legal analysis introduces and annotates each of the eleven sections. The book is in five parts: Introduction (dealing with the two states parties); Constitution; Institutions, Rights etc.; and the load-bearing British-Irish Agreement.

The full text of the Belfast Agreement is appended.

This is a definitive and unique work. It is indispensable for practising lawyers in both parts of Ireland and Great Britain.

'Anyone who is contemplating bringing a legal action connected with the Agreement would be well advised to read Austen's book. If they haven't it's going to be an expensive business and not likely to succeed.'