The Nature of the British-Irish Agreement
by Brendan O'Leary
New Left review 233/1999
Assembly members have to designate themselves as 'Nationalist, 'Unionist'
or 'Other'. This ruling poses difficult questions for the middle-class Alliance
Party, and other 'cross-community' parties, such as the Northern Ireland
Women's Coalition, which have won representation to the new Assembly. If
they chose to register as unionist they increase the number of moderate
unionists in the Assembly, but with the attendant risk that they may lose
the support of some Catholic voters. If they choose to be 'Other' they may,
by contrast, weaken their power in critical votes in the Assembly, and run
the risk of losing the support of some Protestant voters. In this Assembly
they have determined that they are 'Other', though they are free to change
their classifications in future. |
