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The Alliance Party Of Northern Ireland And Power Sharing In A Divided Society, Allan Leonard

Allan Leonard

The government of Northern Ireland from 1920 to 1972 represented a one-party government, or more appropriately, a segmental majority of unionism; Nationalist parties were perpetually unable to, as well as restricted from, achieving control of government. Political processes since then have been to compel Unionists to share power with others. There is more than one way to apply power sharing, with consociational (Lijphart 1977) or integrative (Horowitz 1985; 1991) elements. The result can be a more or less integrated society (Sisk 1996).

My thesis is that with the achievement of the 1998 Agreement, Alliance’s pursuit of a Northern Ireland-integrative power …