Cross-segmental parties in consociational systems: Downplaying prowess to access power in Northern Ireland
| Author | Timofey Agarin,Henry Jarrett |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/13691481211048503 |
| Published date | 01 November 2022 |
| Date | 01 November 2022 |
| Subject Matter | Original Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/13691481211048503
The British Journal of Politics and
International Relations
2022, Vol. 24(4) 723 –740
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/13691481211048503
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Cross-segmental parties
in consociational systems:
Downplaying prowess to access
power in Northern Ireland
Timofey Agarin1 and Henry Jarrett2
Abstract
Political parties are afforded a key role in making consociational democracy work; however,
parties that dis-identify with salient identities and appeal to voters across the ethno-political
divide face barriers when interacting with voters and with other, segmental parties. Nevertheless,
such cross-segmental parties often thrive and even ascend to power. Northern Ireland’s cross-
segmental parties – the Alliance Party, the Green Party, and People before Profit – have sought
to traverse group-specific voter interests and set their agenda apart from that of segmental
parties. For such parties to be considered ‘coalitionable’, they should outline their (potential)
governing contribution to complement other political parties’ agendas. Cross-segmental parties’
participation in government makes them appear electable, but it is the focus on bipartisan concerns
that consolidates their electoral success and ensures their political relevance. We focus on the
evolution of Alliance’s political agenda and fill a gap in the literature on the relevance of cross-
segmental parties in consociations.
Keywords
Alliance Party, consociationalism, cross-segmental parties, divided societies, Northern Ireland,
power-sharing
Introduction
Observers of representation in divided societies anticipate that parties are likely to reflect
the vision of ethno-political stewardship resulting from dominant cleavages. Their role,
however, is judged to be ambiguous. Some scholars, following Nordlinger (1972: 82),
reaffirm that leaders lead and voters follow, assigning a stabilising role to political parties
in divided places. Segmental parties underpin the mode of voter representation in formal
institutional settings (Luther, 1999: 8) and, over time, allow for violence to be translated
1School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK
2Department of Politics, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK
Corresponding author:
Timofey Agarin, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 1NN, UK.
Email: t.agarin@qub.ac.uk
1048503BPI0010.1177/13691481211048503The British Journal of Politics and International RelationsAgarin and Jarrett
research-article2021
Original Article
724 The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 24(4)
into political conflict (Reilly, 2006). If political party platforms reflect social divisions,
and political preferences appear seamlessly coherent with the social characteristics of
those casting ballots, electoral success – and thus, political stability in post-conflict
divided societies – will be guaranteed (Lipset and Rokkan, 1967).
Scholars from Lijphart to Nordlinger, Reilly to O’Leary suggest that in divided places
political elites need to signal – but not assert – identity connections between themselves
and their voters. This link is already presumed by parties representing politically relevant
groups, since, as Diamond and Gunther (2001: 23) suggest, ‘the electoral logic of the
ethnic party is to harden and mobilize its ethnic base with exclusive, often polarizing
appeals to ethnic group opportunity and threat’. Even though reaching out across the
divide is acknowledged to contribute more substantively to the stability of consociational
places, mobilising voter support for non-binary politics in a polity operating under conso-
ciational arrangements is considerably more difficult (Tonge, 2020). The central chal-
lenge for cross-segmental parties in consociations is to develop strategies that yield
electoral success and ensure their political relevance. Our research offers the first attempt
to assess whether they can be successful in doing so.
If segmental parties can translate votes into political influence through a guaranteed
seat in government, cross-segmental parties’ electoral success situates them and their vot-
ers in opposition to the political agendas of parties of the consociation’s majority, raising
concerns about the representativeness of politics and the democraticness of consocia-
tional policy-making. We analyse the most resilient cross-segmental party in Northern
Ireland, the Alliance Party (APNI), and suggest that focusing their political agenda
ensured their ability to attain what most parties in all political systems aspire to continu-
ous participation in executives, which contributes to greater representation and democ-
racy in this regional consociation.
The article proceeds as follows. First, it considers the theory and practice of political
parties in consociational societies, before focusing on cross-segmental parties in Northern
Ireland and then the specific case of APNI. We conduct a review of the party’s manifestos,
election campaign material, and policy reports from its foundation to the present day. To
complement this focus, we also utilise data from APNI’s public statements and from
interviews with the party leadership conducted by the authors between 2013 and 2019.
Over the past decade, repeated stalemates in the Northern Ireland Assembly have gal-
vanised voters around three issues – government transparency, Europe and Brexit, and
public services. We find that over time the party’s agenda became more specialised to
reflect this limited set which concerns all voters in Northern Ireland. In the process of
focusing on the core concerns of the entire electorate, APNI has consolidated its profile
as the party that stands above the sectarian division and is able to most effectively appeal
to all voters by addressing these issues in its campaigns. These focal issues reflect con-
cerns over policy efficiency, economic sustainability, and the local impact of dynamic
regional, interstate relations, allowing the party to downplay its prowess as a member of
government and to exercise power. We define prowess as the ability of cross-segmental
parties to realise the full potential of their unique position within consociations by outlin-
ing their (prospective) governing contribution to complement the agendas of other politi-
cal parties and thus be considered ‘coalitionable’. Our overall conclusion is that the case
of APNI demonstrates that when segmental parties in consociations fail to ensure sub-
stantive representation of their voters interests, a cross-segmental political party stands
some chance of success despite disincentives for voters to choose ‘middle of the road’
political representatives.
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