Consociationalism in Northern Ireland : Power-sharing as making or breaking a national identity?

Abstract: The Northern Irish conflict known as the Troubles reached a peace process in 1998, through the framework of the Good Friday Agreement. Infused in the agreement are the traits of consociationalism, a theory often articulated by Professor Arend Lijphart. While Lijphart himself condemned a consociational democracy for Northern Ireland as unrealistic in its initial stages, the political settlement in the region is today one of the key confirming cases of consociational theory. However, while political cementation, enabled through this agreement, heightened the opportunities for the political accommodation of groups in a heterogeneous Northern Ireland, the traits of consociationalism offers less normative measures as to move beyond conflict management. The intent of this essay is to understand the barriers and opportunities of consociationalism in tangling the complexity of Northern Ireland as a deeply divided society. Moreover, this disciplined configurative case study will grant insights on whether the theoretical framework has offered sufficient explanatory power for Northern Ireland in making the shift from conflict management to conflict transformation. Through the application of consociationalism and nationalism, the barriers and opportunities of the Good Friday Agreement in maintaining a Northern Irish identity will be discussed and analysed by theoretical and qualitative means.