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Explaining the Northern Ireland Agreement: The Sources of an Unlikely Constitutional Consensus

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  • HOROWITZ, DONALD L.

Abstract

Advocates of one or another set of institutions for new democracies have typically neglected the question of adoptability. The omission is especially evident in institutional prescriptions for the reduction of ethnic conflict in severely divided societies. These have been advanced with little regard for obstacles likely to be encountered in the process of adoption. Yet adoption is problematic. Processes of negotiation and exchange open the possibility of mixed outcomes reflecting the asymmetric preferences of majorities and minorities. The Northern Ireland Agreement of 1998, however, is a glaring exception, for it produced institutions that are intended to be clearly and consistently consociational. An examination of the process by which the agreement was produced suggests that the coherent outcome in Northern Ireland was the result of some very special conditions conducive to a consensus on institutions that spanned party lines. These conditions are unlikely to be widely replicable, and the fact of consensus does not imply that the agreed institutions are apt for the divided society whose problems they are intended to ameliorate.

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  • Horowitz, Donald L., 2002. "Explaining the Northern Ireland Agreement: The Sources of an Unlikely Constitutional Consensus," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 32(2), pages 193-220, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:bjposi:v:32:y:2002:i:02:p:193-220_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Tridimas, George, 2011. "The political economy of power-sharing," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 328-342, June.
    2. Sherrill Stroschein, 2014. "Consociational Settlements and Reconstruction," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 656(1), pages 97-115, November.
    3. Stroschein, Sherrill, 2013. "Consociational Settlements and Reconstruction: Bosnia in Comparative Perspective, 1995-Present," WIDER Working Paper Series 089, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Sherrill Stroschein, 2013. "Consociational Settlements and Reconstruction: Bosnia in Comparative Perspective, 1995-Present," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2013-089, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    5. Colin Jennings, 2007. "Political Leadership, Conflict and the Prospects for Constitutional Peace," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 8(1), pages 83-94, January.
    6. Colin Jennings, 2011. "Intra-Group Competition And Inter-Group Conflict: An Application To Northern Ireland," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 63-83.
    7. Jennings, Colin & Sanchez-Pages, Santiago, 2024. "Rebel financing and the commitment problem in civil conflict: An Application to Northern Ireland," SocArXiv 7bp4n, Center for Open Science.

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