Constitutional courts and territorial self-government as conflict management tool.

This paper outlines recommendations for designing dispute resolution processes where territorial self-government has been used as a conflict management tool. Based on an analyse of the success of Constitutional Courts, or equivalent bodies, in resolving such disputes in existing cases it outlines how such Courts can be structured to maximize their ability to settle disputes between relating to the TSG arrangements. It also outlines how an additional political arbitration committee might be useful

Guarantees and territorial self-government as a conflict management tool

Based on a paper presented to the International Studies Association in San Francisco in April 2018 this paper provides a summary of the findings of the project 'How coordination mechanisms and entrenched guarantees contribute to the success of complex power-sharing in post-conflict societies'. It provides recommendations for policy-makers and practitioners as to how guarantees can be designed and included in peace agreements to prevent unilateral changes to such arrangements minimizing the risk of the re-emergence of violenc

The slow growth of Sinn Féin: from minor player to centre stage?

In the elections of 2011 Sinn Féin made something of a breakthrough in national elections. It received almost 9.9 per cent of the national vote in the general election, a three point increase on its 2007 result. Later in the year its candidate for the presidential election, Martin McGuinness, polled almost 14 per cent. The party’s return in seats though less than its vote would have commanded in a purely proportional system, was a significant improvement on its disappointing result in 2007. Its 14 seats compared favourably to Fianna Fáil’s 20 seats. Fianna Fáil’s decision not to contest the presidential election, while probably wise in hindsight, caused some towonder was the party leaving itself open to further encroachment of itsposition by Sinn Féin. Throughout this book we see examples of small parties who blaze brightly for a short period, only to die out. O’Malley (2010) suggests that this might be because of the impact of government on small parties. The experience of Sinn Féin in the Republic of Ireland seems to bear this out. The party has made steady progress and in 2011 was larger than any of the minor parties since the PDs in 1987. It is approaching the size of the Labour Party in the 1997, 2002 and 2007 elections. In short it seems to be moving from minor to mainstream party

With a little help from our friends?: Independent commissions and the mediation of issues in post-Good Friday Agreement Northern Ireland

This dissertation uses mediation theory to examine the implementation stage of the Northern Ireland peace process. This highlights the fact that mediation does not end when a peace agreement is signed. The implementation of agreements is also a difficult challenge and an examination of how mediation theory can explain the role of third parties at this significant stage will fill a gap in our understanding of post agreement mediation. It examines how the Independent Commission on Policing, the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, the Independent Monitoring Commission, and the Consultative Group on the Past managed their respective issues. The analysis establishes what type of mediation each commission used and how the identity of the mediator, the issue intensity, terms of reference of the commission, and the presence and nature of the Good Friday Agreement affected this. It finds that mediator identity has a strong effect on the type of mediation used; a combination of members with high international status and local members facilitated more interventionist mediation. Similarly, despite an inclination to focus on certain aspects of a mandate, terms of reference that explicitly provided for deeper involvement resulted in more interventionist activities. Issue intensity was not found to have a significant effect and its impact was largely mitigated by other factors. Finally, the Good Friday Agreement had a complex effect on the mediation. Mediation type was affected both by the existence of a peace agreement - which was seen as legitimate given its approval in a referendum - and the nature of the agreement as international, Lijphartian, and coercive

Towards a new paradigm of healthcare: Addressing challenges to professional identities through Community Operational Research

Healthcare worldwide faces severe quality and cost issues, and the search for sustainability in healthcare establishes a grand challenge. Public interest is growing in a systemic re-conceptualizing of healthcare, from primarily a consumerist problem of individual need for treatment to a need for communities themselves to become more effective in systemic prevention, coping and caring. In community led approaches, scarce resources are moved away from ever-increasing consumerist services to empower, develop and enable communities to plan their own health and community improvements in mutually interdependent patterns of care often seen as ‘co-production’. This approach is exemplified by the innovative NUKA system of community led healthcare which originated in Alaska and which was trialled in Scotland in 2012, where it did not achieve similar acclaim as in the United States. In the Scottish NUKA trial opposition from professionals meant the trial was ended early. Our research found that omitting to account for the strong professional identity of GPs and other practice staff was instrumental in the failure of the trial. Beyond deficiencies inadequately considering professional identities, the trial also failed to engage the community and its patients as owners and architects of the system. We argue that the root cause of these problems, was a more general critical systemic failure to manage participatory boundaries and associated identities. Community Operational Research practitioners have developed relevant theories, methodologies and methods to address issues of participation and identity, so could make a significant contribution to opening up new solutions for community led healthcare