Search

This article explores the intersection between the politics and construction of victimhood in transitional societies and the use of truth recovery as a platform for the creation of hierarchies of truth. It explores how, in a context of contested victimhood and an unresolved past, the 'political currency' of victimhood may lead to the domination and embellishment of certain voices and narratives and the concurrent silencing of others. As this article will then demonstrate, when applied to the debate on truth recovery, the capturing of victims' voice and agency can manifest in a damaging 'truth as trumps' dynamic and recourse to 'whataboutery' in which one call for truth or the recovery of truth as significant to one side of the community is countered by that of a more 'significant' or more 'important' truth on the part of the other. The paper argues for the inculcation of a culture political generosity in transitional contexts as a way to begin to ameliorate these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have seen notable shifts in commemorative practices in Northern Ireland: first towards greater antagonism through the emblem of the Parachute Regiment, then towards shared symbolisation through the logo of the National Health Service. Drawing upon the theoretical insights of Jacques Derrida, this article contributes to literature which rejects "two communities" understandings of politics in Northern Ireland. Through a discussion of the red poppy (a symbol with a long lineage in the contested history of commemoration in Ireland), I present a reading of commemoration as a function of iterability. By focusing on the inherent ability of commemorative symbols to be reinterpreted and reinscribed into new contexts, I argue that no usage can fix or control the meaning of a given symbol. This orientation enables a deconstructive approach to contemporary commemoration that pays careful attention to what is going on in Northern Ireland, while avoiding essentialising narratives about communal identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Premised on elite accommodation, consociations provide little consideration for citizens' input on institutional change. Likewise, valuable analyses of cross-community political participation in divided societies have emerged in recent years, yet whether the relationship between the grassroot and formal political process has broader consequences remains to be fully explored. The article examines the conditions in which nonelectoral participation takes place and the ways in which actors involved therein negotiate constraints for continuous cross-community mobilization. The structure of political systems and the nature of deep divisions in Northern Ireland and Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina invite a comparison of the consequences of nonelectoral political participation in these two illustrative case studies. The article concludes that while the formal political context shapes the likelihood of engagement on a cross-community basis, whether nonelectoral participation changes the structure of political decision-making depends on the willingness and ability of those involved to cooperate with formal institutional politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

After the partition of Ireland, the newly established parliament in Belfast was given control over education. The unionist government, mainly representing the majoritarian Protestant population, embarked on a reform of the pre-existing denominational education system and tried to persuade all the churches to transfer their schools to state control in exchange for public funding. Despite the sincere efforts of the first Minister of Education, the Catholic Church rejected interference in education from a government that its followers perceived as hostile, while the Protestant churches became increasingly intransigent in their demands for more control over state schools. In order to ensure their support, the government met their requests, ignoring the instances of teachers and principals who called for independence from clerical managers. The result was a segregated education system that contributed to maintain the deep divisions of the Northern Irish society. [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]

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]

A central question in the debate between "centripetalists" and "consociationalists" concerns whether power‐sharing arrangements provide incentives for moderation. This article helps to formulate an empirical answer through an examination of the electoral decline of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) following the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) in the North of Ireland. Drawing on primary qualitative interviews with key players, this article argues that the SDLP were electoral losers under a system of ethnic out‐flanking. Sinn Féin has successfully presented itself as the "greener" and more robust representative of nationalist interests, whilst simultaneously moderating its message and operating the institutions of Northern Ireland. Sinn Féin has taken ownership of the GFA and has positioned itself as the party best able to ensure its delivery. Sinn Féin's rights‐based agenda, and vibrant electoral machine, has resonated with the nationalist electorate who are less sure of what the contemporary SDLP stands for. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents political and economic data for Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in 2018, including trade activities, bilateral meetings with Great Britain, migration, and population.

The article presents information on the political condition in Northern Ireland in 2018, which includes political representation, political issues and elections.

The relationship between the United States of America, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland during the years of conflict in Northern Ireland has been the topic of significant scholarly literature, but rarely has this literature examined the statecraft behind US interventions in Northern Ireland in the years before the election of President Bill Clinton. In this article, I will use a range of recently declassified state papers and a series of personal interviews to examine the introduction of the 1985 Supplementary Extradition Treaty between the United States and United Kingdom and show how the British government successfully manoeuvred their American counterparts, in both the Executive and Legislative branches, towards ratification of both the extradition treaty and the Anglo-Irish Agreement Support Act of 1986. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explains the changing relationship between Irish leaders, the Irish-American diaspora, Irish-American political elites, and American diplomacy. Specifically, we explore the transnational advocacy networks (TANSs) associated with the Irish diaspora and their impact on American diplomacy. In the early twentieth century, de Valera failed to mobilize Irish-America to convince President Wilson to recognize the Irish Republic. By the late twentieth century Irish-Americans became effective foreign policy entrepreneurs in Congress re-orienting US diplomacy toward Northern Ireland. Irish political elites utilized both the diaspora and their elite connections to transform the American policy of deference to its Cold War ally to an engaged diplomacy mediating and promoting peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this note, we use the UK Labour Force Survey to estimate the wage return to an additional year of schooling for Scotland and Northern Ireland exploiting the 1972 Raising of the School Leaving Age (RoSLA). Prior literature on this topic has consistently ignored both countries in a UK context, likely due to an incorrect belief that they were not affected by the 1972 RoSLA until some years later. We demonstrate that both countries were affected by the education reform in 1972 and our estimates suggest a positive effect on hourly wages for Scotland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay discusses two short stories of girlhood written by Lucy Caldwell: "Mayday" (2016) and "Here We Are" (2017). It argues that although Caldwell's fiction is mobilized by an engagement with the politics of Northern Ireland, it is not the physical violence of "the Troubles" that animates her work. Rather, her stories are concerned with the broader reverberations of the conflict and its aftermath; the conservative political climate that characterized the latter part of the twentieth century; and the domestic debris that decades of conflict have left in their wake. Caldwell's focus on young female sexuality – and the ways in which this is curtailed, controlled, and abused – enables her to analyze the anachronistic politics of Northern Ireland while opening up imaginative avenues through which to envision the future. In exploring moments of connection and the enabling power of girlhood desire, Caldwell provides a feminist alternative to the masculinist narratives, so often of (paramilitary) violence, that have characterized engagement with the North of Ireland during the latter part of the twentieth century. The essay emphasizes that it is not the trauma of the Troubles that galvanizes Caldwell's short fiction but the trauma of being denied bodily autonomy, or the right to love whom you choose in a manner equal to your peers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A literary criticism of the book "The High Caul Cap," by Medbh McGuckian is presented. Topics discussed include political conflicts in Northern Ireland, preoccupation of thoughts among characters, semantic confusion, historic sources used in the novel and mourning. An overview of the book is also given.

The article presents the author's views on research studies on revolution in Belfast, Ireland from 1846-1848. Various topics discussed include romantic nationalism in the island, participation of intellectual leadership cadre in the revolution, history of Irish Confederation movements and historiography of Belfast politics.

The article discusses various opinions about the political and social conditions in Northern Ireland in 1968, and it mentions a peace process, issues involving discrimination and inequality in the region, and student demonstrations in places such as Belfast, Northern Ireland. The People's Democracy (PD) student-based group and the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) are assessed, along with the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association and then-Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Terence O'Neill.

Abstract: This article examines how some Irish republicans have used ‘rebel songs’ as a means to resist the hegemonic power of the British state, and how militant republicanism is invoked musically, through sonic and physical references to gunfire. It explores how the use of rebel songs has changed, the inherent tensions within today's scene, and how republicans attempt to co‐opt other conflicts as a means to strengthen their claim as resistance fighters. The article also analyses more nuanced resistances within the rebel music scene, exploring how competing republican factions use the same music to express opposing political positions, and why some musicians ultimately leave the scene on account of the musical and political restrictions placed upon them. In so doing, the article connects with ongoing attempts to rethink, remap, and develop new approaches to resistance within anthropology, while contributing to the developing subfield of ‘ethnomusicology in times of trouble’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than a decade on, the Northern Ireland peace process can largely be considered a success. Despite the failure of the Provisional Republican Movement to achieve a united Ireland free of British control, the large-scale violence of “The Troubles” has been relegated to the past. Applying the logic of coercive diplomacy, this study examines the role of threats and the use of selective and limited violence by the Provisional Movement to manage real and potential opponents and challengers that have emerged within its own ideological ranks to maintain its position of dominance and prevent a spoiling of the peace process. This study shows that the Provisional Movement retained the capability to employ violence and demonstrated the credibility of coercive threat through a willingness to use force against its opponents on the Republican spectrum, and was able to do so with a high degree of impunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: It is over a year since the collapse of the devolved administration at Stormont, which left one region of the United Kingdom without a functioning executive. Reluctance to introduce direct rule from Westminster reduced Northern Ireland to a desiccated form of governance. This article examines the nature and form of government in this political vacuum. The consequences of this system are examined in terms of the absence of legislation, mechanisms for scrutiny, and participation in intergovernmental relations. In the absence of devolution and direct rule, the potential for greater involvement of the Irish government in the affairs of Northern Ireland is also considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the political theories of recognition to assess the online political activism which constitutes the informal, political participation of working-class Loyalists in post-ceasefire Northern Ireland. The satirisation of the flag protesters and loyalists more broadly stimulated a competition of narratives regarding the capacity of loyalism and its contributions to a post-conflict social setting. The impact of satire on marginalised groups creates new spaces for those groups to offer alternative perspectives and to resist negative stereotyping from without. In response to the ritual derision which loyalists faced following the flag protests, some engaged in the production of grassroots media which attempted to transform the recognition relations of the group. In examining the relationships between groups in contested societies, particularly those emerging from conflict, theories of respect and esteem offer innovate insights into the role of status and social equality. The deliberative and moral capacities of ‘others’ can be undermined in processes of stereotyping and intra-group esteem generation is a counter to such slights. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Over the last twenty years, comparative political theory has emerged as a distinctive contribution to contemporary theoretical and methodological debate in making the case for greater engagement between “Western” and “non-Western” traditions. While comparative political theory includes multiple methodological approaches and numerous objectives, this article argues for an interpretive method that combines conceptual and contextual analysis to demonstrate both the malleability of concepts and the varying implications that these concepts can have for political action in particular settings. The contextualized comparison need not necessarily be between Western and non-Western cases. This article argues for a “contextualizing concepts” approach and exemplifies this through an analysis of three cases where the concept of reconciliation has been articulated as a means of transforming divided societies since the 1990s: South Africa, Northern Ireland, and Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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]

Violent nationalism in Northern Ireland has drawn inspiration from a tradition of physical-force republicanism that dates back centuries. The consequence has been a strong tendency for Irish republicans to draw on that history as a source of ideas for their conduct of campaigns of violence. However, during Northern Ireland's most recent Troubles from the late 1960s to the 1990s, external influence on the republican movement was evident in some of the tactics adopted and, even more strongly, in the turn toward negotiations. At the same time, Irish republicans have directly assisted other groups from Spain to South Africa in the employment of particular means such as the culvert bomb. But it is more striking that republicans have tended to eschew some of the means that have been widely associated with terrorism elsewhere since the 1960s such as the hijacking of aircraft for the taking of hostages. Transnational influences on Irish nationalists have been greater at the level of political ideas and as a source of legitimization than as a model for their own campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the establishment of devolution in 1999, Northern Ireland's power-sharing governments have been fragile and prone to crisis. However, following a decade of relative stability and cooperation between Nationalists and Unionists at Stormont, hopes were high that the devolved arrangements had finally become embedded and more resistant to collapse. This optimism was dashed when Sinn Féin brought down the devolved institutions in January 2017. A snap election once again returned the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Sinn Féin as the largest parties and their inability to form a government resulted in yet another political stalemate. This article begins by outlining the pattern of political crises in Northern Ireland and assesses both the trigger factors and the responses. It then goes beyond the most obvious explanation for this continuing instability-that of the deep sectarian based divisions-and points to a number of other reasons for the volatility. These include issues such as the incomplete implementation of previous agreements, the impact of broader UK policies and the shadow of Direct Rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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]

A criticism of consociational power sharing as an institutional response to violent conflict is that it buttresses rather than ameliorates the underlying (linguistic, religious or ethno-national) divide, hence prohibiting the emergence of new dimensions of political competition (such as economic left-right or moral liberal-conservative dimensions) that are characteristic of 'normal' societies. We test this argument in the context of the illustrative Northern Ireland case, using data from expert coding of party policy documents and opinion data derived from two Voter Advice Applications (VAAs). We find evidence for a moral liberal-conservative dimension of politics in addition to the ethno-national dimension. Hence, we caution against assuming that consociational polities are unidimensional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the root of recent crises and political stalemate in Northern Ireland lies in a constitutional failure. The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 played an innovative constitutional role in Northern Ireland, and this was central to peace and stability. Yet, its own principles were underspecified and disputed. Strong convergent action by the British and Irish states functioned as an informal mode of constitutional adjudication and it stabilised the settlement. It failed, however, to emphasise constitutional principles or to embed them within the politics of Northern Ireland. British and Irish interests and capacities have changed and with them also the role the states play in Northern Ireland; the result from 2012 has been recurrent political crisis. If the informal British–Irish approach cannot be sustained, the likely alternative—a narrower form of British sovereigntism—carries still greater dangers to stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In May 2009, the Northern Ireland government introduced General Dental Services (GDS) contracts based on capitation in dental practices newly set up by a corporate dental provider to promote access to dental care in populations that had previously struggled to secure service provision. Dental service provision forms an important component of general health services for the population, but the implications of health system financing on care delivered and the financial cost of services has received relatively little attention in the research literature. The aim of this study is to evaluate the policy effect capitation payment in recently started corporate practices had on the delivery of primary oral healthcare in Northern Ireland and access to services.Methods: We analysed the policy initiative in Northern Ireland as a natural experiment to find the impact on healthcare delivery of the newly set up corporate practices that use a prospective capitation system to remunerate primary care dentists. Data was collected from GDS claim forms submitted to the Business Services Organisation (BSO) between April 2011 and October 2014. Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) practices operating within a capitation system were matched to a control group, who were remunerated using a retrospective fee-for-service system.Results: No evidence of patient selection was found in the HSCB practices set up by a corporate provider and operated under capitation. However, patients were less likely to visit the dentist and received less treatment when they did attend, compared to those belonging to the control group (P < 0.05). The extent of preventive activity offered and the patient payment charge revenue did not differ between the two practice groups.Conclusion: Although remunerating NHS primary care dentists in newly set up corporate practices using a prospective capitation system managed costs within healthcare, there is evidence that this policy may have reduced access to care of registered patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A literary criticism of the novel "One by One in the Darkness," by Deirdre Madden is presented. Topics discussed include pure forgiveness in circumstances of Northern Ireland, trauma narratives in the novel, political history of Northern Ireland in the story and political instability over there. An overview of the book is also given.

This article explores the response of the Northern Ireland government to the Jewish refugee crisis during the years preceding the outbreak of the Second World War. The author examines the government's treatment of asylum seekers, and in particular its attempts to attract refugee businessmen who might contribute to solving Ulster's chronic unemployment and economic blight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commercial forms of sex such as prostitution/sex work, strip clubs and even sex shops have been the subject of much political debate and policy regulation over the last decade or so in the UK and Ireland. These myriad forms of commercial sex and land usage have managed to survive and even thrive in the face of public outcry and regulation. Despite being part of the UK we suggest that Northern Ireland has steered its own regulatory course, whereby the consumption of commercial sexual spaces and services have been the subject of intense moral and legal oversight in ways that are not apparent in other UK regions. Nevertheless, in spite of this we also argue that the context of Northern Ireland may provide some lessons for the ways that religious values and moral reasoning can influence debates on commercial sex elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines recent legislative developments in Northern Ireland around Lord Morrow's Human Trafficking & Exploitation (Further Provisions and Support for Victims) Bill that was passed unanimously in the Northern Ireland Assembly and which uniquely in the United Kingdom now makes it a criminal offence to pay for sexual services. I suggest that issues around sex trafficking, sexual slavery and prostitution in Northern Ireland bear all the hallmarks of Stan Cohen's famous articulation of a moral panic (Cohen 1972) but also argue that his original formulation needs to be recast slightly to take account of the horizontal structuring of moral panics in contemporary society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The flag protests that occurred during the tail of 2012 and early 2013 gained international media attention. Much of the media attention focused on the involvement of young people and sought to seek answers to how young people who had grown up in more peaceful times could be involved in violence that belonged in Northern Ireland's past. Research being conducted by the authors during the course of the flag protests on young people's experiences of living in post-conflict Belfast enabled the researchers to gain insight and clarity on the flag protests, why they had occurred and underlying factors that fuelled the riots and violence that followed, giving a snap shot of the strength of feeling and overall mood of the Protestant community at that time. Using an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach, 2 focus groups with 14 young people aged between 15 and 24 (M = 17 years) were conducted followed by more in-depth semi-structured interviews with 6 young people from the focus groups and a further 6 interviews with youth and community workers from the East Belfast area. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article contributes to debates on the relationship between the state and ‘the people’ in post-national contexts, specifically those characterised by intra-state conflicts. The article critically theorises the articulation of this relationship in the Good Friday Agreement as part of the Northern Irish peace process. It employs the concept of ‘state universality’ to examine the way in which the state-people relationship is constructed on the basis of the recognition of multiple peoples, establishing the universality of the state in a postnational fashion. The article also draws on the work of Claude Lefort to examine the implications of this form in terms of political representation, arguing that the recognition of multiple peoples at stake in the Good Friday Agreement is predicated on the particularisation of the two communities, thus divesting political representation of the dimension of universality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power-sharing coalitions in deeply divided places can take centripetal or consociational forms. Respectively, these aim to foster moderation and inclusivity by restricting coalitions to moderate parties or proportionately to incorporate the main political forces. Using the case of Northern Ireland (1973–2015), this article assesses the merits of a particular consociational coalition, based on sequential and proportional allocation rules, by contrast with centripetal (and alternative consociational) coalitions. Sequential and proportional coalitions have clear constitutional design advantages that deserve more attention from academics and policy-makers concerned with the government of deeply divided places. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Following the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom and the Conservative's plans to replace the Human Rights Act with a British Bill of Rights, this article argues that this is an opportunity to re-open the debate on how best to address the current political stalemate on a Northern Ireland Bill of Rights, an unfulfilled element of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. We argue that at a time when there is so much uncertainty about the protection and safeguarding of rights with a real risk of lesser rights for fewer people in the United Kingdom, more than ever is the need to provide an alternative to progress the Northern Ireland Bill of Rights. This article provides that alternative. The article is supported in its conclusions by a series of semi-structured interviews with a range of key players involved in the Northern Ireland process and point to the pressing need for an alternative approach to a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides an analysis of the leadership selection methods adopted by Northern Ireland's five main parties. Drawing on data from interviews with party elites and internal party documents, it sheds light on an important element of intra-party organisation in the region and constitutes a rare case-study of leadership selection in a consociational democracy. By accounting for instances of organisational reform, this article also reveals the extent to which Northern Ireland's parties align with the wider comparative trend of leadership 'democratisation'. In terms of 'who'selects party leaders, the analysis finds a substantial degree of organisational heterogeneity and a reasonably high rate of democratisation. Northern Ireland's parties also prove rather exceptional in their universal adoption of short fixed terms for party leaders and, in the case of three of the parties, their preference for high candidacy thresholds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores recent proposals to deal with the past in Northern Ireland. Focusing, in particular, on the 2014 Stormont House Agreement, I argue that it is possible to begin to discern a movement within policy design to respond proactively to what I term a new politics of storytelling. This consists of an emphasis on testimony-work as a means of dealing with unresolved legacies relating to the Troubles. I suggest that that new politics lies at the centre of the proposed legislation but that it could give rise to a range of potential unintended consequences. An alternative to dealing with the past is also contained in the legislation based on historical and forensic methodologies that could act as a counterweight to those problems that I associate with the storytelling approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK decision to leave the European Union (EU) following a referendum in June 2016 fundamentally alters the country's relationship with the EU, with its European neighbours, with the rest of the world and potentially with its own constituent units. It is clear that different parts of the UK will be impacted differently by this decision and by the unfolding exit terms and process. In this context, Northern Ireland is considered to be particularly vulnerable. This article examines the referendum campaign in Northern Ireland by detailing input from the Northern Ireland administration, political parties, civil society and external figures. The article suggests that the overall referendum campaign in Northern Ireland was hamstrung by the opposing positions taken by key political protagonists, particularly Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). This produced a challenging context for the referendum debate in Northern Ireland. The postreferendum period has also been marked by persistent differences in relation to how best to approach specific Northern Ireland issues and challenges. A continued absence of clear positions and a lack of contingency planning underline a poor level of preparedness for future political developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the possible consequences of Brexit for Northern Ireland. It begins by analysing the political context leading up to the UK's referendum on EU membership, which was preceded only weeks earlier by the elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It then offers an overview of the reaction of a divided Northern Ireland Executive to the UK's decision to leave the EU, before considering some of the potential consequences for Northern Ireland of the UK's departure from the EU. These include the future nature of the Northern Ireland-Ireland border, North-South relations, the possibility of retaining the Common Travel Area, the loss of EU funding for cross-border cooperation, as well as customs controls and trade. It concludes by suggesting how Northern Ireland could retain some degree of continuing relationship with the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]