Deliberative Democracy in Northern Ireland: Opportunities and Challenges for Consensus in a Consociational System

Hayward, Katy

doi:10.1057/9781137357816_2

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For example, Dennis Thompson (2008, p. 509) noted, "if equality of resources were a requisite for deliberation, then deliberative democracy would fail from the start." In this vein, an increasing number of empirical studies have provided evidences that deliberation is possible even under unfavorable conditions, and discursive engagement can occur across societal divisions based on religion (Hayward, 2014;Kanra, 2012;Luskin, O'Flynn, Fishkin, & Russell, 2014), ethno-linguistic differences (Caluwaerts & Kavadias, 2014;Caluwaerts & Reuchamps, 2014) and civil war and ideological polarization (Jaramillo, 2013;Orozco & Ugarriza, 2014). Engagement across differences, albeit difficult to achieve, may create the ground for negotiating areas of conflict, distribution of goods and collective futures (Cinalli & O'Flynn, 2014;Dryzek, 2005;Luskin et al, 2014;Pedrini et al, 2013).…”

Section: The Problem Of Equality In Group Discussion Across Deep Divimentioning

confidence: 99%

Authority and Deliberative Moments: Assessing Equality and Inequality in Deeply Divided Groups

Maia

Cal

Bargas

et al. 2017

Journal of Deliberative Democracy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The notion of equality is central to public deliberation, but few researches have examined how participants construct interactions in face-to-face group discussion involving unequal conditions of authority. This study analyses discussion between slum residents and police officers in Brazil, focusing on both reciprocal and hierarchical relationships in the flow of deliberation. It contributes to explain that the expression of authority is far from straightforward. Looking at a range of authority sources (expertise, functional position, tradition, life experience) that serve to situate and re-situate participants in relation to each other in discussion dynamics helps clarifying what goes on in deliberative moments. Findings reveal that personal experiences prevail in deliberative moments whereas functional credentials predominate in non-deliberative ones. Yet, the case demonstrates that functional authority is not necessarily dominative but can be combined with certain behaviors (such as empathetic imagination, search for commonalities and self-criticism) that lead to reciprocal interactions. This study provides important insights for organizing deliberation more effectively in contexts of fear, mistrust and resentment.

show abstract

Section: The Problem Of Equality In Group Discussion Across Deep Divimentioning

confidence: 99%

Authority and Deliberative Moments: Assessing Equality and Inequality in Deeply Divided Groups

Maia

Cal

Bargas

et al. 2017

Journal of Deliberative Democracy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Participatory practices are rare in consociations. Northern Ireland has some citizen community planning, and a variety of different participatory initiatives supported by The European Union Peace Programmes (Buchanan ; McAlister ; Hayward ). Belgium's non‐governmental 2012 ‘G1000 Citizen's Summit’ is another example (Caluwaerts and Reuchamps ).…”

Section: Research Questions and Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

‘Participatory consociationalism? No, but South Tyrol's Autonomy Convention is evidence that power‐sharing can transform conflicts’

Larin

Röggla

2019

Nations and Nationalism

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

South Tyrol is an autonomous, predominantly German‐speaking province in Italy, and one of the most successful cases of power‐sharing in the world. Nevertheless, the Province recently conducted a participatory‐democratic process known as the ‘Autonomy Convention’ to debate and draft a proposal for revising the 1972 Autonomy Statute. It is the first such process with the stated intent of amending a power‐sharing arrangement, and our research questions are whether this represents a new type of consociational negotiation, and what made it possible. The answer to the first question is ‘no’, and the Convention is best seen as a ‘participatory‐ish consultation’ which had no formal power. But the problems that it faced, and the fact that it occurred at all, are evidence of consociational democracy's potential to transform conflicts. The Convention, we argue, is the result of ‘normal’, not ‘ethnic’ politics, and two generations of successful power‐sharing made that possible by desecuritising the relationship between South Tyrol's three official linguistic groups.

show abstract

“…In their paper on deliberative democracy research, Curato et al (2017, p. 33) reflect on its successful application in divided societies: "Such deliberation can promote recognition, mutual understanding, social learning about the other side, and even solidarity across deep differences." Thus far, efforts at deliberative democracy in NI have largely been the product of citizen-led initiatives and grassroots organisations (Hayward 2014) and have had limited influence on policy. There is therefore a dual need to provide individuals and communities with opportunities to genuinely contribute their views and experiences to key matters affecting their lives and to connect this with the wider policy sphere so that their deliberations can have a real impact on decision-making, and policy development and implementation.…”

Section: Deliberative Democracymentioning

confidence: 99%

Community Conversations: deliberative democracy, education provision and divided societies

Bates

O’Connor

2021

SN Soc Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

How can Community Conversations be used to give communities a voice in policy decisions? This paper is a response to the challenge of engaging citizens in inclusive, meaningful dialogue and deliberation on potentially sensitive policy topics that affect their lives and to create a bridge between individual, community and policy perspectives. This dual aim therefore is to give individuals and communities a stronger voice in key decisions affecting them and to provide stakeholders involved in public policy and decision-making a genuine evidence base which they can use to inform their work. This challenge is even greater in divided societies where consensus building can be difficult. The paper focuses on a Community Conversation methodology and the innovative Community Conversation Toolkit developed by the authors as a mechanism for deliberative democracy through citizen engagement in important public policy decisions. Particular attention is given to the application of the Community Conversation methodology in relation to educational change and sustainability in Northern Ireland, a divided society. The methodology and context are aligned with a socio-ecological perspective which provides a conceptual lens to better understand the complex interplay that spans individual (micro) to policy (macro) levels. In addition to providing a theoretical foundation for the methodology, its application in a specific educational context is presented and discussed. It is therefore intended that the paper provides a rubric for the adaptation and application of the Community Conversation approach in a wide range of policy settings and contexts in order to evoke change. The value of the approach in enabling constructive dialogue on sensitive topics in a divided society is explored throughout the paper. Using an exemplar where divergent community views on school provision were shared, we synthesise the Community Conversation methodology with the socio-ecological approach to illustrate how our approach is particularly suited to closing the gap between parents/communities and policy stakeholders and enabling change.

show abstract

Deliberative Democracy in Northern Ireland: Opportunities and Challenges for Consensus in a Consociational System

Cited by 11 publications

References 27 publications

Authority and Deliberative Moments: Assessing Equality and Inequality in Deeply Divided Groups

Authority and Deliberative Moments: Assessing Equality and Inequality in Deeply Divided Groups

‘Participatory consociationalism? No, but South Tyrol's Autonomy Convention is evidence that power‐sharing can transform conflicts’

Community Conversations: deliberative democracy, education provision and divided societies

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About