From Secessionist Mobilization to Sub-state Nationalism? Assessing the Impact of Consociationalism and Devolution on Irish Nationalism in Northern Ireland
Survey evidence has demonstrated that support for a united Ireland from Catholics in Northern Ireland is markedly declining. Simultaneously, electoral support for the secessionist Sinn Féin party has substantially risen in the region since 1998. Critics have attributed Sinn Féin's electoral growth to consociational power sharing, which they argue rewards ethnic hardline parties. At the same time, many of these critics predicted that consociationalism would exacerbate secessionist sentiment within nationalism, a prognostication now contradicted by survey data. In analysing this paradox, we argue that there is not a switching of identities—from Irish nationalism to UK unionism—but the repositioning of Irish nationalism from a secessionist movement to a sub-state nationalism mobilizing for more resources within devolution. In explaining this, we illuminate how consociationalism allied to devolution can, if the right endogenous and exogenous supporting factors are mobilized, lead to the repositioning of identities within a regional rather than zero-sum national context.
Aspects of complex government: politics, nation states and multi-level government
The complexities of governing in the multi-level government environment can be illustrated in the variety of arrangements for government within the nation state. These are often grounded in multi-level systems within the state, yet may be part of a process of ‘denationalization’ of politics. This paper outlines the impact of the denationalization of politics, specifically in the case of Europe, in the context of the supra-national EU dimension beyond the level of the state. It goes on to explore a number of multi-level systems (the UK, Belgium, Canada and to a lesser extent Spain) commenting on the stability and sustainability of current arrangements.
Sinn Fein and the Sdlp: From Alienation to Participation
Contents: From Civil Rights to Civil Strife: The Birth of the SDLP and the Provisional IRA - Collapsing Stormont: Politics and Rebellion in the Early 1970's - The Sunningdale Experiment: Hopeful Transitions - Marginalisation, Exclusion and Rebirth: Republicanism 1972-79 - Political Inertia.