Suchergebnisse

Argues that Northern Ireland exemplifies defects in civic nationalist thinking. The conflict in Northern Ireland is said to represent rivalry between Irish & British inclusionary projects rather than a struggle between exclusionary projects. A description of civic nationalism & civic unionist positions notes that nationalism focuses on construction of an Irish civic nation capable of transcending rival sectarian identities while unionism has traditionally called for Northern Ireland's political integration with the rest of the UK. Unionists have recently abandoned their exclusionary attitude to stress the accommodation of Catholicism & the Irish culture. The long stalemate between the two projects is explored, along with the movement of powerful actors on both sides toward a bi-national compromise, making the idea of a settlement possible. Problems that can result from a civic nationalist approach to conflict resolution in divided societies are pointed out, noting that the choice is often between two projects that both claim to be civic. It is concluded that civic nationalism is incompatible with the solid institutional recognition that national minorities desire. 35 References. J. Lindroth

Pierre van den Berghe has argued that democracy in divided societies can take five different forms: Herrenvolk democracy, ethnic democracy, liberal democracy, multicultural democracy and consociational democracy. My article argues that each of van den Berghe's five versions of democracy, or relatives of them, has been experimented with in pre–partition Ireland and Northern Ireland. While all have clear limits, the one that is most suited to Northern Ireland's conditions is consociational democracy. The article discusses some limits of the consociational approach in Northern Ireland but also defends it against common criticisms.

The article examines comparisons between Northern Ireland's recent peace process and agreement and similar developments in South Africa. On the one hand, the analogy has been used to explain Northern Ireland's conflict and the type of prescription it requires. On the other, it has been employed to suggest ways in which agreement might be achieved in Northern Ireland, or, more recently, why agreement has been reached. These uses of the analogy ignore or downplay crucial contextual differences between the two cases. The most important of these is that while South Africa's conflict took place largely within a single state, Northern Ireland's occurs within a wider British–Irish space. This contextual difference is crucial for understanding the Northern Ireland conflict, the type of institutions required there, and why agreement was reached.