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Why Northern Ireland’s Institutions Need Stability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 August 2014

Christopher McCrudden ,
John McGarry ,
Brendan O’Leary  and
Alex Schwartz
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Abstract

Northern Ireland’s consociational institutions were reviewed by a committee of its Assembly in 2012–13. The arguments of both critics and exponents of the arrangements are of general interest to scholars of comparative politics, power-sharing and constitutional design. The authors of this article review the debates and evidence on the d’Hondt rule of executive formation, political designation, the likely impact of changing district magnitudes for assembly elections, and existing patterns of opposition and accountability. They evaluate the scholarly, political and legal literature before commending the merits of maintaining the existing system, including the rules under which the system might be modified in future.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 51 , Issue 1 , January 2016 , pp. 30 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press 2014 

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Footnotes

*

Christopher McCrudden is Professor of Human Rights and Equality Law, Queen’s University, Belfast. Contact email: chris.mccrudden@qub.ac.uk.

John McGarry is Professor of Political Studies and Canada Research Chair in Nationalism and Democracy in the Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University, Ontario. Contact email: john.mcgarry@queensu.ca.

Brendan O’Leary is Lauder Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. Contact email: boleary@sas.upenn.edu.

Alex Schwartz is a Lecturer in the School of Law at Queen’s University, Belfast. Contact email: a.schwartz@qub.ac.uk.

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