Democracy and Northern Ireland examines the influence of liberal theories of democracy on recent developments in the Northern Irish peace process. In so doing it analyzes the applicability of theories such as political liberalism, multiculturalism and deliberative democracy to deeply divided societies. Little contends that these models need to build upon recent critiques provided by feminists and civil society theorists in the construction of a more radical interpretation of democracy that can provide a framework for democratic politics in Northern Ireland.

The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 (or Belfast Agreement) promises the people of Northern Ireland a fresh start underpinned by guarantees on human rights, equality, and participation. Scholars from Ireland and England examine developments in Northern Ireland stemming from the Agreement and identify key themes in the current law and politics of Northern Ireland. Topics discussed include Northern Ireland and the European Union, the role of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, and policing in Northern Ireland. Harvey teaches constitutional and human rights law at the University of Leeds. Distributed by ISBS. c. Book News Inc.

Published in association with UNESCO, this volume examines the political governance of cultural diversity. Interdisciplinary to comparative social sciences, it assesses public-policy responses to ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity, and addresses the conditions, forms, and consequences of democratic and human-rights-based governance of multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-faith societies.

This book addresses the idea of radical democracy and, in particular, its poststructuralist articulation. It analyses the approach to radical democracy taken by a number of contemporary theorists and political commentators:, including Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, Judith Butler, William Connolly, Jacques Ranciere, Claude Lefort, Sheldon Wolin, Michael Hardt, and Antonio Negri, and Giorgio Agamben. By examining critically the critiques accounts of democracy advanced by these theorists, this volume explores how a more radically conceived theory of democracy might be extended in a more egalitarian and inclusive direction.developed.The strand of radical democracy examined in this book is defined by a number of characteristics:*Democracy is conceptualised understood as a fugitive condition, being open to perpetual disruption and reinvention*The relationship between the state and civil society is regarded as the site where the open-ended 'promise' of democracy is fought out*There is an emphasis on questions of political renewal*There is a deep suspicion of identity-based political claims*Politics is conceived as either the site of or as one of the mechanisms for identity construction* Democratic politics is understood as a politics of contestation and disagreement* Democracy is regarded as always at least partially conflictual and not a means through which violence and conflict can be permanently eradicated*There is a deep suspicion of identity-based political claims*The political is assumed to be ontologically conflictual, with such conflict being understood as ultimately ineradicable from politics, though the form it takes necessarily varies from time to time and context to contextThe book clarifies the concept of radical democracy by mapping the field, and elaborates it further through a critical engagement with the works of its key proponents. In addition, it draws on the insights of radical democratic theory to explore a range of concre

This book provides a systematic overview and in-depth analysis of the effects of rebel group inclusion on democracy following the end of conflict across the globe. It examines different types of rebel groups, addressing the subject matter through the lens of three dimensions – democracy, stability and governance – which structure the book and the individual chapters. As such, it affords a rare opportunity to bring together two heretofore separate research traditions – conflict studies and political parties. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of political parties and party theory, civil wars and peacebuilding, democratization studies and state building and more broadly to comparative politics, development studies, and security studies.

Mainstream politics in Northern Ireland has not been welcoming to women, but many women have been present in community and voluntary organizations where their contribution has been outstanding. This book examines four organizations (including the recently-formed Northern Ireland Women's Coalition) where women have been active. It discusses the processes and structures created by these groups in order to work democratically across differences and argues that their experiences are invaluable to the development of feminist debates on democracy and difference.

Through case-analysis and cross-sectional assessment of eleven countries this collection explores the most deeply divided societies in the world in order to highlight what deliberative democracy looks like in a deeply divided society and to understand the conditions that deliberative democracies could realistically emerge in difficult circumstances

In recent years a number of countries have introduced affirmative action programmes in order to put right historical injustices and economic inequalities involving ethnic communities. This book examines affirmative action programmes in a range of countries around the world. It discusses how such programmes came about and how they have been implemented, and examines their effectiveness. Throughout it explores how far affirmative action programmes reinforce ethnic identities and thereby contribute to division and conflict. The countries covered are India, the United States, South Africa, Northern Ireland, Brazil, Malaysia and Fiji.

Rethinking Northern Ireland provides a coherent and critical account of the Northern Ireland conflict. Most writing on Northern Ireland is informed by British propaganda, unionist ideology or currently popular 'ethnic conflict' paradigm which allows analysts to wallow in a fascination with tribal loyalty. Rethinking Northern Ireland sets the record straight by reembedding the conflict in Ireland in the history of an literature on imperialism and colonialism. Written by Irish, Scottish and English women and men it includes material on neglected topics such as the role of Britain, gender, culture and sectarianism. It presents a formidable challenge to the shibboleths of contemporary debate on Northern Ireland. A just and lasting peace necessitates thorough re-evaluation and Rethinking Northern Ireland provides a stimulus to that urgent task.