POLS2010 Chap.11 The United Kingdom and Northern Ireland
The United Kingdom and Northern Ireland
The final country case puts the United Kingdom, the prototype of majoritarian democracy, beside Northern Ireland, where majority rule failed and a consociational settlement replaced it. The chapter uses Lijphart’s consensus model and its ten elements to show how power can be shared, dispersed and restrained, and why divided societies need it.
It then follows the social changes behind the 2016 Brexit vote, the shrinking working class, the growth of graduates and the loss of Labour’s traditional voters, and closes with how the Good Friday Agreement institutions work: STV, designation, the petition of concern and the D’Hondt executive.
For exam purposes the chapter gives you three linked comparisons: Britain against Switzerland and Belgium on the ten elements, Britain before and after its social realignment, and majority rule in Northern Ireland before 1972 against power sharing after 1998. Each supports questions on democratic models, cleavages and post-conflict institutions.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Majority rule in a divided society
- 02
Lijphart’s ten consensus elements
- 03
Switzerland and Belgium as consensus examples
- 04
Social change and the Brexit vote
- 05
Territorial strains after Brexit
- 06
Consociation and community designation
- 07
Forming the Northern Ireland Executive
Worked example · free
Placing a country on the majoritarian to consensus line
- 1Count the consensus elements present: coalition cabinets, PR, federalism, constitutional rigidity and judicial review are five of Lijphart’s ten.
- 1Note the majoritarian features: weak bicameralism and a dependent central bank pull it back from the pure consensus pole.
- 1Place it on the consensus side of the line but short of Switzerland, which approximates the pure model.
Key terms
- Consociation
- A form of power-sharing democracy for divided societies in which leaders of each community govern together.
- Petition of concern
- A procedure in the Northern Ireland Assembly that lets either communal bloc effectively veto legislation.
- Westminster model
- Lijphart’s name for majoritarian democracy as found in Britain, which concentrates power in a bare majority.
- Community designation
- The requirement that Northern Ireland Assembly members register as nationalist, unionist or other for cross-community voting.
The United Kingdom and Northern Ireland FAQ
Why did majority rule fail in Northern Ireland?
Because the Unionist party, backed by the Protestant majority, won each election and governed alone from 1921 to 1972, so the Catholic minority was continually excluded. Lijphart argues that in deeply divided societies majority rule turns into majority dictatorship, which fuelled protest and conflict in the late 1960s.
What changed in British society before the Brexit vote?
Sixty years ago over half of the workforce did manual jobs and fewer than 10% of voters had a degree; by the 2000s the working class was about a fifth of the workforce and graduates more than a third. Labour’s turn to educated professionals left many traditional voters disaffected.
How is the Northern Ireland Executive formed?
The largest party of the largest community designation nominates the First Minister and the top party of the runner-up designation nominates the deputy First Minister. Other ministries are allocated by D’Hondt roughly in proportion to seats, except Justice, which is elected by a cross-community vote.
Is the United Kingdom still a majoritarian democracy?
Largely, at Westminster: it keeps single-party cabinets, plurality elections and an asymmetric upper house. But devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and PR with power sharing in Northern Ireland, mean parts of the state now follow consensus principles, which makes the UK a mixed case.
Exam move
Learn Lijphart’s ten consensus elements as two groups of five, then practise placing Britain, Switzerland and Northern Ireland on each one. This gives you a ready structure for any question comparing democratic models.
For Brexit, keep the Ford and Goodwin figures on class and education change, and connect them explicitly to the education divide in Chapter 5. For Northern Ireland, rehearse the nomination rule with your own invented seat totals so that you can apply it under exam pressure, and prepare one strength and one weakness of consociation.
Finally, write a timed answer on whether consociation has worked in Northern Ireland, weighing the inclusion it guarantees against the instability of large multi-party executives and the absence of an effective opposition, and close with a judgement that refers back to Lijphart’s argument about divided societies.
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