Consociational Theory and Peace Agreements in Pluri-National Places: Northern Ireland and Other Cases

Abstract

This paper examines consociational theory, primarily as developed by Arend Lijphart,1 and its relevance in the context of pluri-national places. A pluri-national place has more than one mobilized national community and can be a state, a place within a state, or a place that crosses state borders. Some of its people may identify with no nation, preferring, perhaps, to identify with groups that cross-cut national lines, or they may identify with more than one nation, i.e., they may possess “nested” national identities. These various identities may vary in intensity, but none of them are primordial, in the sense that they have existed since time immemorial, though they may be experienced as such. A pluri-national place is one in which the discrete national identities are politically salient – i.e., its dominant political party or parties, as well as its popular civic associations, are nationalist in character and support the classical nationalist goals of self-determination (autonomy or independence). The concept of a pluri-national place implies that the discrete national identities are durable, and not likely to assimilate, fuse or dissolve into one common identity at any foreseeable point. One can empirically test for the existence of pluri-national places, at least in democracies, by examining which parties people vote for, and what type of civic associations they participate in, and how long these patterns have existed.2 Most of the world’s current violent political disputes take

John McGarry thanks the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for research funding. Brendan O’Leary thanks the Lauder endowment.