Activism and Consociational Power-Sharing

Consociational power-sharing institutions are designed to accommodate the dominant cleavage within a divided society (e.g. religious, ethnic, or national). Critics of consociationalism point out that organising democracy in this way creates a hierarchy of interests: issues aligned to the dominant cleavage are prioritised and, by extension, issues not aligned to the dominant cleavage are marginalised. For activists campaigning for social and political change, the literature highlights the challenges of navigating consociationalism when the issue at hand does not align with the dominant cleavage. However, alignment with the consociation’s dominant cleavage need not necessarily be an advantage from an activist perspective. Using data from in-depth semi-structured interviews with Irish language activists in Northern Ireland, this paper explores the barriers to civic mobilisation that can arise within a dominant pillar of a consociational system. When ‘priority’ status is largely experienced in a symbolic sense, and resources promised by the regime are repeatedly not delivered, those affected face a dilemma. On the one hand the communal logic of consociationalism is one of deference to political leaders, but on the other hand the need to challenge those same leaders is evident. This paper explores the strategy and tactics used by language activists in Northern Ireland as they navigated this dilemma in their recent (and successful) campaign to achieve historic language legislation. As well as furnishing empirical data on civic mobilisation in Northern Ireland, the paper has wider relevance for those interested in consociational power-sharing, ethnonational politics, social movements, and the governance of divided societies.