The Framework Document on Northern Ireland and the Theory of Power‐Sharing

1996 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arend Lijphart
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Sufficient Condition ◽  
British Government ◽  
Divided Societies ◽  
Democratic Government ◽  
Consociational Democracy ◽  
The Future ◽  
Framework Document

The Purpose of This Article is To Analyse The Document ‘A Framework for Accountable Government in Northern Ireland’, published by the British government in early 1995, and to assess its significance in terms of the theory of powersharing (consociational democracy). The Framework Document, as it is usually called, received a hostile reception from many Unionist politicians in Northern Ireland. The ideas that it contains, however, resonate with many previous blueprints for the future of Northern Ireland. In some form they are very likely to re-emerge in the proposed solutions that will follow the ‘all-party’ talks set for June 1996. I shall show that the Framework plan for democratic government in Northern Ireland is completely and thoroughly consociational in its orientation. It confirms the proposition that power-sharing is a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for viable democracy in deeply divided societies.

scholarly journals The Evolution of Party Policy and Cleavage Voting under Power-Sharing in Northern Ireland

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Tilley ◽  
John Garry ◽  
Neil Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
Divided Societies ◽  
Political Dynamics ◽  
Party Manifestos ◽  
Post Conflict

Abstract This article argues that post-conflict consociational arrangements in ethnically divided societies incentivize moderation by political parties, but not policy differentiation outside the main conflict. This results in little policy-driven voting. Analysing party manifestos and voter survey data, we examine the evolution of party policy and cleavage voting under power-sharing in Northern Ireland 1998–2016. We find a reduction in ethno-national policy differences between parties and that ethno-nationalism has become less important in predicting vote choice for Protestants, but not Catholics. We also find little party differentiation in other policy areas and show that vote choices are largely independent of people's policy stances on economic or social issues. Our findings are thus largely consistent with a ‘top-down’ interpretation of political dynamics.

scholarly journals Integrated and shared education: Sinn Féin, the Democratic Unionist Party and educational change in Northern Ireland

2020 ◽  
pp. 147821032096506
Author(s):  
Ulf Hansson ◽  
Stephen Roulston
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Educational Change ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Integrated Education ◽  
Divided Societies ◽  
Sinn Fein ◽  
Separate System ◽  
Integrated Schools

There is a considerable literature concerning divided societies and the role of education in such societies. In the case of Northern Ireland, education is characterised by a largely separate system of education for its two main communities. There is also a considerably smaller integrated schools sector, where the two communities learn together. A more recent intervention is that of shared education where separate schools are retained but shared classes and other opportunities for sharing are offered. Politically, there has never been extensive support for integrated education, particularly from the two largest parties in the Assembly and power-sharing Executive: The Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin. While not active proponents of integrated education the two parties have embraced shared education and with their own interpretation of its implementation. The introduction of shared education can be seen as a triumph as the two main parties in the coalition have agreed on a policy designed to bridge the gap in education. An alternative view is that shared education is the least-worst option for these two parties but may do little to advance reconciliation.

scholarly journals What is a Normal Democracy?

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Brendan O'Leary
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Constitutional Design ◽  
Divided Societies ◽  
Practical Solution ◽  
Consociational Democracy ◽  
European Court

The author argues there is no such thing as a "normal democracy", and that the decision made by the European Court of Human Rights in Sejdić-Finci case does not pay enough respect to consociational democracy as one of the legitimate forms of democracy. As human rights have to be balanced against one another, they also have to be balanced against other values, including peace and stability. As the practical solution in the election of the three-person collective Presidency in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the author suggests three separate electoral colleges in the three territorial districts that would settle the tension between the politically viable power-sharing arrangements and the demand to respect human rights. The author concludes that more moral modesty is in place when foreign political advice in democratic constitutional design is issued for the divided societies.

The UUP during the Troubles, 1969–1998

2019 ◽  
pp. 9-40
Author(s):  
Thomas Hennessey ◽  
Máire Braniff ◽  
James W. McAuley ◽  
Jonathan Tonge ◽  
Sophie A. Whiting
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Direct Impact ◽  
British Government ◽  
The Troubles ◽  
Irish Government

The opening chapter examines the UUP during the Troubles from 1969 until 1998. The era posed numerous political problems for the Party, in addition to the direct impact of violence upon many members. The 1973 power-sharing Sunningdale Agreement had divided the UUP under Faulkner but its collapse in 1974 and the restoration of direct rule, later accompanied by participation in a scrutiny-only Northern Ireland Assembly, helped restore internal unity. Unionist unity extended amid strident but fruitless opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which gave the Irish government a consultative role on Northern Ireland. The chapter considers the quiet integrationist approach of James Molyneaux and his contribution to the 1993 Downing Street Declaration, before analysing the unravelling of the Molyneaux strategy, with the British Government producing the strongly all-Ireland Framework Documents in 1995. The departure of Molyneaux and election of David Trimble as UUP leader in 1995 are assessed.

scholarly journals The Use and Abuse of Veto Rights in Power-Sharing Systems: Northern Ireland’s Petition of Concern in Comparative Perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 53 (4) ◽  
pp. 735-756 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison McCulloch
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Power Sharing ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Divided Societies ◽  
Political Incentives ◽  
Institutional Instability ◽  
Primary Means

This article assesses the articulation of vital ethno-national interests and the use and abuse of veto rights in deeply divided societies. In consociational theory, veto rights represent the primary means by which ethnic groups defend their ‘vital interests’, though they are often criticized for rewarding extremism and producing institutional instability. Situating a case study of Northern Ireland in a comparative perspective, I consider two lines of veto practice: liberal vs corporate (i.e. who has veto rights?) and permissive vs restrictive (i.e. to what issue areas do vetoes apply?), to assess what political incentives, if any, they offer for moderation and stability. Drawing from a review of the legislative debates when a veto was enacted and on semi-structured interviews with members of the Northern Ireland Assembly, I argue that a permissive approach, in which groups can determine their own vital interests, can contribute to moderation, peace and stability in divided societies.

The exit option: mediation and the termination of negotiations in the Northern Ireland conflict

2013 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-55 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niall O´ Dochartaigh ◽  
Isak Svensson
Keyword(s):  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Third Party ◽  
British Government ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Irish Republican Army ◽  
Northern Ireland Conflict ◽  
Exit Option ◽  
Information Advantage ◽  
The Uk

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the mediation exit option, which is one of the most important tactics available to any third party mediator.Design/methodology/approachThe paper analyzes a crucial intermediary channel between the Irish Republican Army (hereafter IRA) and the British Government utilizing unique material from the private papers of the intermediary, Brendan Duddy, including diaries that cover periods of intensive communication, extensive interviews with the intermediary and with participants in this communication on both the British Government and Irish Republican sides as well as recently released official papers from the UK National Archives relating to this communication.FindingsThe study reveals how the intermediary channel was used in order to get information, how the third party and the primary parties traded in asymmetries of information, and how the intermediary utilized the information advantage to increase the credibility of his threats of termination.Research limitations/implicationsThe study outlines an avenue for further research on the termination dynamics of mediation.Practical implicationsUnderstanding the conditions for successfully using the exit‐option is vital for policy‐makers, in particular for peace diplomacy efforts in other contexts than the Northern Ireland one.Originality/valueThe paper challenges previous explanations for why threats by mediators to call off further mediation attempts are successful and argues that a mediator can use the parties' informational dependency on him in order to increase his leverage and push the parties towards settlement.

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