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The 2019 UK general election had huge implications for Brexit, and in turn for Northern Ireland. The British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, was championing a renegotiated UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement that had been strongly opposed by all political parties in Northern Ireland, the part of the UK it would most effect. At the same, the region had been without a devolved government for nearly three years. Both factors led to unprecedented outcomes. The dominant parties, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin, both lost votes and seats, whilst the moderate Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP) and cross-community Alliance Party both made significant gains. The end result, for the first time in the history of Northern Ireland, was that unionist candidates formed a minority amongst the region's elected representatives for Westminster. Notwithstanding the particular circumstances of the 2019 general election, social and political trends in Northern Ireland suggest that this is unlikely to be an electoral blip, but rather the beginning of a significant realignment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Otherwise routine local elections in Northern Ireland on 2 May 2019 were bestowed unusual significance by exceptional circumstance. A prolonged stalemate between the two largest political parties had left Northern Ireland without a devolved government for over two years; meanwhile, arrangements for the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland had been central in the turbulent 'Brexit' process engulfing the UK government. Meaning, that the local elections in 2019 would be a litmus test of public opinion in Northern Ireland at a time when the place more often spoken about than spoken for. In the event, results were mixed; there were signs of electoral continuity and others of political flux. Two trends will likely be significant in the long term. First, the consolidation of ethno-nationally defined electorates on the part of the DUP and Sinn Féin following the continued decline in support for the moderate unionist UUP and moderate nationalist SDLP. Second, a surge in support for the cross-community Alliance Party and a notable increase in support for the non-aligned Green Party and People Before Profit Alliance, alongside Independent candidates, suggests diversification in the issues directing Northern Irish voters' allegiance, and at least a partial decline in the electoral salience of the constitutional question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With echoes of the dividing lines of the United Kingdom's 2016 referendum, a majority of voters in Northern Ireland supported pro-Remain candidates in the 2019 European Parliament election. However, whereas the results in many parts of the UK reflected a highly polarised electorate, voters in Northern Ireland appeared more receptive to compromise: a majority of their newly elected MEPs expressed support for the Withdrawal Agreement negotiated by the UK government with the EU – the only constituency in the UK where this was the case. The comfortable re-election of Diane Dodds and Martina Anderson affirmed the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin as the dominant unionist and nationalist parties respectively. However, a surge in support for the Alliance Party, which saw Naomi Long win a seat at the expense of the Ulster Unionist Party, marked a notable shift towards the ethno-national centre-ground: one in five first preference votes went to a candidate aligned with neither nationalism nor unionism. This report contextualises the election campaign and considers the implications of the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about the attitudes and behaviour of Northern Ireland’s subnational legislators (Members of the Legislative Assembly, or MLAs) beyond their activities at Parliament Buildings, Stormont. This article provides the first analysis of MLAs’ extra-parliamentary behaviour through a mixed-methods study of their constituency service. The study finds that MLAs attach considerable importance to constituency service, devoting more time to its provision than to parliamentary duties. Noticeable variation exists between and within parties in terms of constituency service effort, although unionist MLAs tend to have a stronger constituency focus than non-unionist MLAs. Variation in constituency service effort at the individual level has more to do with MLAs’ role orientations than electoral incentives. In terms of their home style, MLAs exhibit local behaviour that is more characteristic of their contemporaries in the Republic of Ireland than their counterparts in the rest of the United Kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As voters across Northern Ireland went to the polls on 5 May 2016, it was by no means obvious that they were participating in a landmark election. The preceding campaign was largely lacklustre, voters were left uninspired, and competition for votes was primarily conducted along predictable ethno-national lines. The Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin retained their positions as the dominant unionist and nationalist parties respectively, while the Ulster Unionist Party and Social Democratic and Labour Party struggled to retain their existing support, let alone expand it. The cross-community Alliance Party remained stagnant in fifth place. However, these ostensive signs of continuity with previous elections mask deeper signs of substantive change. The establishment of Northern Ireland’s first official opposition within current structures and the publication of a draft Programme for Government framework within a month of the election are indicative of a new era in consociational power sharing. Meanwhile, the growth in support for smaller parties, a further fall in voter turnout and an audible debate around social issues suggest at least a partial decline in the salience of the ethno-national dimension in the electoral arena. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This essay traces the evolution of the demand that the principal British political parties should extend organisation to Northern Ireland. Although originally nurtured by a small Stalinist sect of the far left, the ideal of electoral integration or ‘equal citizenship’ would in time come to exercise considerable appeal among middle-class unionists disorientated by the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement. This unlikely political alliance would give rise to a vibrant pressure group—the Campaign for Equal Citizenship (CEC)—which played a vocal role in Northern Irish political life in the late 1980s. While often vaunted as its essential attribute, the political diversity of the CEC would foster divisions that would ensure its swift demise. The paper concludes that the decline of electoral integrationism in the early 1990s represented perhaps a prerequisite of a nascent peace process that envisaged a very different political future for Northern Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates the paradox in post-conflict societies of continued marginality of cross-ethnic parties despite significant convergence in public attitudes and identities. In so doing, it examines the argument that parties that attempt to reach across the divide are constrained by consocational institutions designed to accommodate rival identities in such environments. The paper explores this puzzle in the context of Northern Ireland, drawing upon qualitative evidence from elite interviews and focus groups collected in 2012 and 2013. It concludes that cross-community parties operating in the region do encounter formal institutional barriers, but that such barriers only partially explain the phenomenon and an interplay between formal and informal constraints underlies their position of relatively limited electoral success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the 1959 decision of the Northern Ireland Ulster Unionist Party (U.U.P.) to openly support the British Conservative Party and disparage the British Labour Party. An overview of Northern Ireland unionists' relationship with the British federal government, including in regard to unionists' distrust of the British government, is provided.

Consociationalism is often proposed for societies deeply divided along ethnic lines, yet its recommendation remains contentious. Critics argue that it has a low rate of adoption, results in political immobilism, and entrenches the divisions it seeks to alleviate. Overlooked in much of the criticism, however, is the distinction between liberal and corporate forms of consociationalism, alternatively premised on the self-determination or predetermination of the ethnic groups involved in power-sharing. The article considers whether the critiques apply equally to both versions. Corporate consociation freezes a particular inter-group configuration in time, leading to drawn-out executive formation and, in some cases, to a cementing of divisions. However, liberal consociation runs into its own difficulties: consociational settlements are generally negotiated at the very point at which group identities are most politically salient and divisive. Under these conditions, groups are unlikely to settle for anything other than a guarantee of their share in power, thus making liberal consociationalism less likely to be adopted in negotiated settlements. The article also considers the factors enhancing the adoption of liberal consociational rules. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article argues that Northern Ireland's ‘perpetual’ peace process needs to be examined in the context of the events at the time. There is a tendency in some of the literature to read the result of the peace process back into its origins and development. Such accounts have misinterpreted the reasons for the emergence of the peace process and have criticised the actions of parties based on interpretations that could not have been made confidently at the time. Drawing on path dependency literature, this article employs process tracing to illustrate that the peace process of today is fundamentally different in both focus and purpose from the variant that existed in the early 1990s. The trajectory of the peace process and its outcome are comprehensible only if the objectives of the parties to the conflict are identified and the ways in which they altered over the period evaluated. The fundamental changes in the politics of Northern Ireland during the peace process led to the parties eventually accepting outcomes that many of them appeared to be categorically unwilling to countenance in earlier phases. This article examines and explains how the peace process resulted in the Democratic Unionist Party–Sinn Féin-led power-sharing government. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The role of electoral law in assisting political accommodation in divided societies has been the subject of vigorous recent debate, with advocates of consociational government arguing for proportional representation and proponents of inter-communal bridge building defending the merits of the alternative vote system. This article explores the implications of electoral law in Northern Ireland for the shape of the party system there, and thus for an important ingredient in the pursuit of a settlement. It assesses the political consequences of the plurality system (from 1929 to 1969) and of the single transferable vote system of proportional representation (since 1973) by documenting the party political consequences of these two systems, and by simulating the probable effects of other electoral systems during these two periods. It concludes that electoral law has indeed had a major impact on the shape of the party system, with the introduction of proportional representation hastening the demise of the old two-party system, replacing it essentially by a multi-party, two-bloc system. But in this the electoral system is just one instrument in an institutional toolkit that forms part of an arena of dispute between consociational and 'Westminster' models of government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Northern Ireland Assembly Election held on 7 March 2007 was significant for a number of reasons. Firstly, despite the widespread view that the campaign was one of the most low-key in recent memory, the election was hugely important as it signalled a real possibility of delivering restored devolution as the culmination of five years of government initiatives and inter-party talks. Second, the DUP and Sinn Féin further cemented their position as the leading parties of their respective communities with 36 and 28 Assembly seats respectively. Third, the two 'moderate' parties fared badly: the UUP's share of Assembly seats plummeted from 24 to 18 - 18 behind the DUP and the SDLP won just 16 seats, qualifying for only one executive seat. Fourth, the presence of dissidents in opposition to the respective positions of the DUP and Sinn Féin failed to make an impact. Overall, the election created the conditions for a new political landscape in Northern Ireland, leading to the formation of a four-party power sharing executive. Almost five years since the suspension of the institutions in October 2002 the third power sharing government in the history of Northern Ireland was agreed in April and took effect on 8 May 2007. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Northern Ireland there has been a long-term and often heated debate, particularly within civil society, about how to address the legacy of the conflict and unresolved issues of the past. This paper critically examines the first large-scale survey to focus specifically and in depth upon the question of a possible truth commission for Northern Ireland. The paper analyses responses in relation to self-declared support for Northern Ireland's five main political parties (Ulster Unionist Party, Democratic Unionist Party, Alliance Party, Social Democratic and Labour Party and Sinn Fein). The results of the survey reveal a mixed picture on attitudes towards a possible truth commission but suggest that despite obvious, sometimes serious, community and party political differences on a number of important issues, there are also clearly grounds on which consensus exists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses data from a survey of the candidates in the 2003 Northern Ireland Assembly election to measure the policy positions of the Northern Irish political parties on scales that are the usual measurements of party policy in Western Europe, such as on economic and social issues, the European Union, morality issues, environmental issues and minority groups. These data were then used to test whether the Northern Ireland party system was conducive to integration or consociationalism, which is the current debate on conflict resolution in Northern Ireland. It argues that this debate has been under-theorised and that empirical data can be used to test the likelihood of either scenario. It concludes that, in most aspects, the Northern Ireland party system tends towards the consociational scenario but there are, nevertheless, aspects which suggest that an integrationist scenario could be produced in the long term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of ‘community’ dominates politics in Northern Ireland in both popular and political discourse and in academic writing, policy and legislation. Depending upon particular understandings of the notion of community different arguments are made about the policies that need to be implemented to develop the peace process. This has had a fundamental impact on areas such as legislation over parades and the development of a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. This essay critically looks at understandings of ‘community’; how it becomes used in political discourse and in policy development and the character of its relationship with ideas about safety and security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Imagined though it is, ‘two‐communities’ thinking drives the politics of public institutions in Northern Ireland. Although people seem well‐disposed to power‐sharing in principle, they do not trust that their political opponents’ statements to the same effect are sincere. As this suggests, agreement on the principles of justice is not sufficient for an overlapping consensus to form. People’s social environment must be such that promises and commitments are perceived as more or less risk‐free and that compromise can be entered into without fear of others acting from bad faith. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses factors that affected the demise of Ulster Unionism in Northern Ireland. Ulster Unionists became obsessed with internal struggles and the party's direction in the peace processes. The removal of David Trimble as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party led to the collapse of public support in the party. The party's resistance to change also contributed to its collapse.

Provides information on the political structure of Northern Ireland as of February 2006. List of Government Ministers; Status of the political parties established in the country; Members of Parliament.

Presents information on the political structure and the political conditions in Northern Ireland. State of political parties; Northern Ireland Members of the Parliament and Assembly Members; Information on legislative bills enacted; Overview of the main political events in year 2003.

Throughout the contemporary period, Unionists and Loyalists in Northern Ireland have reacted in contradictory ways to the peace process. This article highlights some of the key political and social dynamics within loyalism. In particular, it considers the positioning of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force(UVF)and their linked political representatives in the Progressive Unionist Party(PUP). The response of the PUP to the peace process has revealed several important tensions within unionism. These include the notions that Loyalists can no longer be assured that the UK government will maintain the Union; expressions of class and gendered identities; a lack of trust of mainstream unionism; and, sectarianism, which although it remains a key element within Loyalist identity, is by no means its only dimension. Finally, the article outlines the broader construction of Loyalist and Unionist ideologies, and positions the PUP within broader politics of contemporary unionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the stability of the political institutions in Northern Ireland. Responsibilities and incentives of political parties; Establishment of an independent and international commission to determine whether a party is in breach of democratic principles; Unionist community's political allegiances; Stabilization of Northern Ireland's Agreement.

Examines the impact that decommissioning and other unresolved issued have had on electoral competition in Northern Ireland. Electoral system; Bicommunal strategies of party competition; Campaign strategies of the principal parties; Increased polarization between unionists and nationalists; Assessment of the election results in terms of the prospect for ending the Northern Ireland Assembly.

This article is primarily concerned with the 1970 Bannside by-election in Northern Ireland and the political significance of this contest. It puts this event into the context of the condition of the ruling Unionist Party at this historical juncture and highlights issues concerning party organisation and mode of operation which have a contemporary resonance. It is argued that the Unionist Party fought the Bannside campaign against the challenge of the Reverend Ian Paisley in a notably secular and civic-minded style which also foreshadowed future attempts to so position the party. The outcome of the contest, it is suggested, did much to ensure that Unionist party political divisions would become a defining feature of Northern Ireland politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Northern Ireland peace process has provided the space for the emergence of an articulate loyalist politics which has had implications for the traditionally obstructive and negative representations of unionist discourse. During talk and negotiations which led to the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, leaders of the Progressive Unionist Party and the Ulster Democratic Party (both political wings of loyalist paramilitary groupings) voiced positions which assisted the possibilities for building constitutional change based along more moderate lines than those associated with dominant unionism. However, have the news media been receptive to such articulations and, if not, what problems have they created for the communication of loyalist positions? By considering such questions, this article explores the development of loyalism and loyalist communications in the early years of peace in Northern Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of the Assembly election of 2003 may well signal the last chance for power sharing in the province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article will assess conflicting accounts of Charles Haughey's political record in relation to Northern Ireland. It is argued that his approach cannot be understood without reference to the changing influences affecting his position. While the importance of competition between Haughey and Garret FitzGerald and the factions within Fianna Fáil have been acknowledged, the emergence of Sinn Féin in the early 1980s as an influencing factor has been overlooked. The article will outline the extent to which Sinn Féin conditioned the language used by Fianna Fáil throughout the 1980s and will analyse, in particular, the importance for Fianna Fáil of the 1988 talks with Sinn Féin. The article will also illustrate the significance of these talks for the Northern Ireland peace process itself and for the principles of consent and self-determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information about Northern Ireland. Several tables are presented including those about government ministers, political parties and government agencies. A list of legislative bills enacted in 2002 by the Northern Ireland Assembly is provided. 2002 main political events that occurred in Northern Ireland are discussed.

Focuses on the 1998 assembly election in Northern Ireland. Decline in the turnout of the election; Data on the votes for Unionist and Nationalist parties; Levels of support for the Democratic Unionist Party.

In this article I examine the responses of political parties in Northern Ireland to the European Union [EU] from 1987 to 1994. The EU has provoked responses from each of the main Northern Irish parties that are compatible with their political ideologies. This fact has impeded the EU's potential to act as an agent of reconciliation. I argue that the Ulster Unionist Party's and Shin Féin's approaches to the EU have altered since 1987. The response of the Social Democratic and Labour Party [SDLP] has remained constant -- it continues to welcome and encourage the EU as a reconciling force in Northern Ireland. However, the Democratic Unionist Party [DUP] remains opposed to the EU and is not part of the consensus shared by the Ulster Unionist Party [UUPJ, the SDLP and Sinn Féin [SF] in support of regionalization. I conclude that the EU's significance in Northern Ireland will increase because of recent political developments in Northern Ireland, but that the EU has not caused political change and is not a panacea for resolving conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the launch of new initiative to find a political solution in Northern Ireland by the Conservative Government. Involvement of negotiations with the major political parties in order to find agreements on new devolved political structures; Purpose of the proposals for new system of government; Terms and conditions of the proposal.

The article reports on the state of the Northern Ireland civil service. The Northern Ireland civil service has existed since 1921 as a unique example of a regional civil service within the United Kingdom completely separate from the United Kingdom civil service. Initially, changes in the civil service resulted from the program of social and administrative reform urged on the Northern Ireland Government by the British Government in 1969. The previous development of the civil service was discussed. One of the noted differences between the Northern Ireland and the British civil service was that the Northern Ireland civil service always worked with the same political party in power. In recent years, the Northern Ireland civil service has undergone a period of unprecedented change.

The article examines the situation in Northern Ireland where the people are excluded from the party political system. The study of Max Beloff and Gillian Peele entitled "The Government of the United Kingdom," had found that the place's sectarian divisions between Protestant and Roman Catholic are the most important factors shaping electoral choice. It was also discovered that since 1923 the Speaker refused to allow parliamentary questions dealing with matters devolved to Stormont. From these revelations, it was then realized that the isolation of Northern Ireland's politics is attributable to its different character. The attitudes of several political parties in the regions towards each other have also made impossible for the people to engage in normal and non-sectarian party politics.

The article discusses the practices and ideologies of Republican and Loyalist paramilitaries concerning informal injustice in Northern Ireland. It says that the Republican and Loyalist paramilitary groupings implement strict systems of internal discipline and a certain informal policing geared towards its enforcement. According to the author, people can only understand the complexity of the Loyalist policing in terms of their practical and ideological ambiguity with regard to the state. The similarities and differences between Republican and Loyalist policing are also discussed.

This paper attempts an application of Nordlinger's theory of conflict regulation to Northern Ireland. This represents a shift away from an institutional focus on consociational 'devices' to the more basic concern of establishing whether the basis for any conciliatory action actually exists in the first place. The first section concludes that structured elite predominance (a virtual precondition for conflict regulation) charactenses the main Northern Ireland political parties (although it is relatively weak in the case of the Ulster Unionist Party). However. section two, in an addition to Nordlinger's framework, argues that the existence of a dual party system severely hamstrings the development of elite political security, by stimulating within-bloc electoral competition. Moreover, section three stresses that the key to an acceptable consociational formula is the balance which is struck between the internal and external dimensions of the problem. Finally, the paper assesses the prospects for 'coercive consociationalism', in the light of the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the political developments over the last five years which it induced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Anglo-Irish Agreement which brought conflict between Unionist and Nationalist parties in Northern Ireland. The Anglo-Irish Agreement is an initiative designed for the reconstruction of the Northern Ireland state and was signed at Hillsborough in Northern Ireland on November 15, 1985 by both British and Irish ministers. The criticism of the Unionist party, made up of Protestant population, and the expectations of the Catholic side on the Agreement are discussed.

The article discusses the consequences of the 1983 general election in Northern Ireland. The outcome of the election by constituency and party with emphasis on what the election has to tell about the size, composition and geographical distribution of pro and anti-union support in the province. A more general discussion of where the 1983 election leaves Northern Ireland's internal party politics. According to the author, the main battleground of Northern Irish electoral politics at the Westminister level, both between unionism and nationalism and between violent and non-violent nationalism.

The article offers information on the 1984 European election in Northern Ireland. It states that in this electoral process three sitting MEPs were favored candidates. These are the Rev. Ian Paisley of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), John Hume of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and John Taylor of the Official Unionist Party (OUP). Other candidates include Danny Morrison, David Cook of Alliance Party, James Kilfedder, Colin McGuigan of Ecology Party, and Seamus Lynch of Workers' Party. The controversial voting system of proportional representation by single transferable vote PR(STV) was employed in this election.