Exclusion amid Inclusion: Power-Sharing and Non-Dominant Minorities
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen's University Belfast
Department Name: Sch of Hist, Anthrop, Philos & Politics
Abstract
In 2009 the European Court of Human Rights ruled 14-3 that Bosnia-Herzegovina's election rules for its tripartite presidency, which allow only Bosniaks, Bosnian Croats, and Bosnian Serbs to stand for election, were discriminatory against other minority groups, namely the Roma and Jewish communities. This is because Bosnia's constitutional framework, alongside the presidential arrangement, is designed to accommodate and include the three constituent peoples but not members who prefer not to identify in terms of three ethnic groups. While this was thought necessary to end the 1992-5 war (Weller and Wolff 2005), it has forestalled the consolidation of democracy and has marginalised individuals and groups who do not identify with the three dominant communities. As Jakob Finci, the leader of Bosnia's Jewish community who took the case to the ECHR, noted in response to the ruling, Bosnia's institutional rules are "a problem of injustice that divides Bosnian people into first and second class citizens" (Balkanist 2015).
Power-sharing, which entails the representation and participation of major societal (ethnic) actors in the process of governing, has been adopted in places as diverse as Burundi, Lebanon, Kosovo, Macedonia, Northern Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Iraq and has facilitated a war-to-peace transition in some of the world's most deeply divided places. However, while power-sharing is often heralded as a democratic and inclusive approach to managing ethnic difference, it faces a significant trade-off. For power-sharing to create stability and pacify the divided groups, it must marginalise those actors who were not directly involved in conflict, who we refer to as non-dominant groups. As part of this project, we identify three kinds of non-dominant groups who were neglected in the original design of power-sharing institutions and remain on the sidelines of postconflict politics: non-ethnic minorities, re-aligned minorities, and micro-minorities.
We refer to this institutional bias in favour of large groups as the "exclusion amid inclusion" (EAI) dilemma. We seek to answer the following research question: How can power-sharing arrangements best be implemented to account for the EAI problem? This research project is designed to confront the EAI dilemma and offer feasible and viable recommendations for its resolution.
We seek to answer the following research question: How can power-sharing arrangements best be implemented to account for the EAI problem? We answer this question through a threefold methodological approach. We shall conduct 1) a macro-political analysis of power-sharing institutions to assess their ability to redress the EAI dilemma, 2) four comparative case studies (Northern Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lebanon and Macedonia) investigating the relationship between the inclusion of dominant groups and the exclusion of non-dominant groups, employing a "structured, focused" method of comparison (George and Bennett 2005), and 3) semi-structured interviews with politicians from parties that participate in power-sharing and from parties that struggle for legislative representation, community activists from the three kinds of non-dominant groups identified, and representatives of international organisations engaged in democracy promotion and conflict resolution.
Overall, we assess the experiences of states engaged in power-sharing in order to develop a series of policy proposals for modifying the institutional framework to accommodate identity groups that have either been marginalised under the initial institutional design, or who have emerged during the period of peace. This is of timely relevance: our conceptual framework can be extended to societies beyond our comparative cases where peace is marred by episodic violence, frozen conflict, and/or active violent conflict between the dominant groups, but also affecting the non-dominant groups.
Power-sharing, which entails the representation and participation of major societal (ethnic) actors in the process of governing, has been adopted in places as diverse as Burundi, Lebanon, Kosovo, Macedonia, Northern Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Iraq and has facilitated a war-to-peace transition in some of the world's most deeply divided places. However, while power-sharing is often heralded as a democratic and inclusive approach to managing ethnic difference, it faces a significant trade-off. For power-sharing to create stability and pacify the divided groups, it must marginalise those actors who were not directly involved in conflict, who we refer to as non-dominant groups. As part of this project, we identify three kinds of non-dominant groups who were neglected in the original design of power-sharing institutions and remain on the sidelines of postconflict politics: non-ethnic minorities, re-aligned minorities, and micro-minorities.
We refer to this institutional bias in favour of large groups as the "exclusion amid inclusion" (EAI) dilemma. We seek to answer the following research question: How can power-sharing arrangements best be implemented to account for the EAI problem? This research project is designed to confront the EAI dilemma and offer feasible and viable recommendations for its resolution.
We seek to answer the following research question: How can power-sharing arrangements best be implemented to account for the EAI problem? We answer this question through a threefold methodological approach. We shall conduct 1) a macro-political analysis of power-sharing institutions to assess their ability to redress the EAI dilemma, 2) four comparative case studies (Northern Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Lebanon and Macedonia) investigating the relationship between the inclusion of dominant groups and the exclusion of non-dominant groups, employing a "structured, focused" method of comparison (George and Bennett 2005), and 3) semi-structured interviews with politicians from parties that participate in power-sharing and from parties that struggle for legislative representation, community activists from the three kinds of non-dominant groups identified, and representatives of international organisations engaged in democracy promotion and conflict resolution.
Overall, we assess the experiences of states engaged in power-sharing in order to develop a series of policy proposals for modifying the institutional framework to accommodate identity groups that have either been marginalised under the initial institutional design, or who have emerged during the period of peace. This is of timely relevance: our conceptual framework can be extended to societies beyond our comparative cases where peace is marred by episodic violence, frozen conflict, and/or active violent conflict between the dominant groups, but also affecting the non-dominant groups.
Planned Impact
The postconflict divided societies we study in the project house some of the most intractable conflicts in the world. This necessitates fresh ideas and proposals about building stable state institutions and economies. Our underpinning research will benefit those making policy and those striving to bring greater understanding between different factions involved in resolving the EAI dilemma. Integral to the proposed research is the ambition to work closely with policymakers at the research, writing up and dissemination phases of the project and to contribute directly to the effectiveness of public policy. This will be done by communication of the findings of the project directly to senior policymakers in Northern Ireland, Macedonia, Bosnia, and Lebanon, as well as at EU level and several other current and prospective member states, including the UK. Our project will provide underpinning research to grapple with these challenges, built on close dialogue we will maintain with:
a) the local and European policymaking community, advising them on tools to reassess policies and behaviour in key areas of postconflict institution building. Involving both the political and regional elites representing sectors of society and culture, we envisage that the influence of our research will aid in minimising the impact of power-sharing institutions on exclusion of non-dominant groups.
b) civil society activists and political elites, developing reports and policy briefings that will be used to strengthen inter-communal dialogue and reflection. This will allow social and political elites to maintain expertise to deliver penetrating and comprehensive analyses of opportunities for inclusion of non-dominant groups into power-sharing political process beyond the period of funding envisaged for the project.
c) NGOs and groups representing micro-minorities, non-ethnic groups, and realigned minorities will be able to assess opportunities for individuals to improve sustainably their input into process of institutional and policy change in the four polities we study. This will create momentum for self-sustaining work in countries we will have studied, procure additional diverse benefits to policymakers in the target countries and to a broad set of regional and international actors involved in postconflict state institution building.
The fundamental lessons from our project will include identification of gaps in provisions by state and established political actors and societal needs and will offer the definitive basis for changing actual practice at the communal level. We will identify strategies for policymakers and constitutional designers that can balance the need for the representation and participation of both dominant and non-dominant groups and we will work closely with community activists highlighting strategies that can facilitate their demands for greater inclusion in power-sharing processes. The enhancement of presentation of our three excluded groups will prove useful to those working to overcome inter-communal divisions and perceptions of the systemic exclusion from public life. Representatives of the three groups we study in detail will be involved in informing and formulating policy development in our case study countries under the aegis of our project, which will provide a neutral platform for discussion of sensitive issues of political exclusion in divided societies. This research aims to support attempts at constitutional, political and policy reform in deeply divided societies, including but not restricted to, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Lebanon and Northern Ireland.
a) the local and European policymaking community, advising them on tools to reassess policies and behaviour in key areas of postconflict institution building. Involving both the political and regional elites representing sectors of society and culture, we envisage that the influence of our research will aid in minimising the impact of power-sharing institutions on exclusion of non-dominant groups.
b) civil society activists and political elites, developing reports and policy briefings that will be used to strengthen inter-communal dialogue and reflection. This will allow social and political elites to maintain expertise to deliver penetrating and comprehensive analyses of opportunities for inclusion of non-dominant groups into power-sharing political process beyond the period of funding envisaged for the project.
c) NGOs and groups representing micro-minorities, non-ethnic groups, and realigned minorities will be able to assess opportunities for individuals to improve sustainably their input into process of institutional and policy change in the four polities we study. This will create momentum for self-sustaining work in countries we will have studied, procure additional diverse benefits to policymakers in the target countries and to a broad set of regional and international actors involved in postconflict state institution building.
The fundamental lessons from our project will include identification of gaps in provisions by state and established political actors and societal needs and will offer the definitive basis for changing actual practice at the communal level. We will identify strategies for policymakers and constitutional designers that can balance the need for the representation and participation of both dominant and non-dominant groups and we will work closely with community activists highlighting strategies that can facilitate their demands for greater inclusion in power-sharing processes. The enhancement of presentation of our three excluded groups will prove useful to those working to overcome inter-communal divisions and perceptions of the systemic exclusion from public life. Representatives of the three groups we study in detail will be involved in informing and formulating policy development in our case study countries under the aegis of our project, which will provide a neutral platform for discussion of sensitive issues of political exclusion in divided societies. This research aims to support attempts at constitutional, political and policy reform in deeply divided societies, including but not restricted to, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Lebanon and Northern Ireland.
Organisations
- Queen's University Belfast (Lead Research Organisation)
- AMEBE (Association of Mentors for Business and Entrepreneurship) (Collaboration)
- Canterbury Christ Church University (Collaboration)
- Siren Associates (Collaboration)
- International Political Science Association (Collaboration)
- University of Montenegro (Collaboration)
- Brandon University (Collaboration)
- Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (Collaboration)
- University of Sarajevo (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF KENT (Collaboration)
- QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY BELFAST (Collaboration)
Publications
Murtagh C
(2021)
Beyond the core: Do ethnic parties 'reach out' in power-sharing systems?
in The British Journal of Politics and International Relations
Mikhael, D
(2021)
New "Others" in Post-Conflict Consociations: A Continuum of Exclusion?
in Nationalism and Ethnic Politics
Mikhael D
(2021)
New "Others" in Post-Conflict Consociations: A Continuum of Exclusion?
in Nationalism and Ethnic Politics
McCulloch A
(2019)
Power-sharing: A gender intervention
in International Political Science Review
McCulloch A
(2020)
Veto Rights and Vital Interests: Formal and Informal Veto Rules for Minority Representation in Deeply Divided Societies
in Representation
McCulloch A
(2019)
Confronting the Empirical and Normative Challenges to Power-Sharing Governance
in Ethnopolitics
Agarin T
(2023)
Are Segmental Parties Bad for Women? Rethinking the Challenges of Representation in Consociational Power-Sharing
in Representation
Agarin T
(2021)
Cross-segmental parties in consociational systems: Downplaying prowess to access power in Northern Ireland
in The British Journal of Politics and International Relations
Agarin T
(2019)
The limits of inclusion: Representation of minority and non-dominant communities in consociational and liberal democracies
in International Political Science Review
Agarin T
(2020)
Nonelectoral Participation in Deeply Divided Societies: Transforming Consociations from the Ground Up?
in Nationalities Papers
Agarin T
(2019)
Descriptive representation and political participation exploring Croatia's non-dominant groups electoral turnout
in Anali Hrvatskog politološkog društva
Agarin T
(2018)
Others in Deeply Divided Societies: A Research Agenda
in Nationalism and Ethnic Politics
Agarin T
(2019)
How power-sharing includes and excludes non-dominant communities: Introduction to the special issue
in International Political Science Review
Description | The project focused specifically on the assessment of opportunities and practicalities for the accommodation of non-dominant communities in divided societies managed by consociational political systems. The academic research programme has offered considerable uptake in the literature, resulting in an increased focus of scholarship overall on the opportunities for political agents to reform and engage with the constraints and opportunities set out in the consociational system. Indeed, there is a burgeoning research stream on 'others' in consociational settings in which our contributions are acknowledged. The project has benefited immensely from the blue-sky thinking whilst, at the same time, has focussed on active engagement with proponents and advocates of reform. Our main priority has been to engage those actors who are primarily located on the margins of the political spectrum in postconflict politics; the practical outputs of the project in relation to policy and legal reforms should be nuanced accordingly. What we have seen is that stronger voices located on the opposing sides of polarized political spectrums in the four case studies of the project (Northern Ireland, North Macedonia, Bosnia Herzegovina, and Lebanon) have expressed an appreciation and understanding of limited opportunities for non-aligned/non-dominant group members to join the conversation on political reform. Our project has highlighted the reasons for limited opportunities for reform by the representatives of the so-called "other communities", hence, our involvement in conversation with policymakers was largely gauging their perceptions and strategic engagement with effects of politics and channelling reflections on the effective delivery of governance and consociational places. |
Exploitation Route | At the beginning of the project we set ourselves the goal of raising the attention and increasing appreciation of the challenges representative processes face in consociational divided settings; we are confident that this goal has been achieved both in academic and activist contexts. Our academic outputs have gained considerable traction since the beginning of the project. The project has offered a series of academic dissemination events, such as the IPSA Research Colloquiums in Cyprus in 2017, Sarajevo in 2019, and online in 2020. We also supported Hybrid research colloquiums at Queen's University Kingston (autumn 2022) and Queen's University Belfast (spring 2023). These events brought together a community of around 100 scholars each time to take forward the findings that we have presented in the project report submitted at the end of our project's lifetime. As a direct consequence of project academic engagement facilitated by the ESRC funding, a network of scholars studying the challenges of representation and participation in power-sharing settings has been established, and continues to cooperate beyond this project's funding period. Members of the team have published two special journal issues (Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/fnep20/24/3 and International Political Studies Review https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ipsa/41/1 ) and at least 14 further peer-reviewed publications, ensuring considerable uptake in the scholarship. Additionally, we conducted series of workshops and events targeting legislators, civil society activists, and policy makers in our case study countries, communicated about our project and shared its findings about minority/non-dominant group's positionality in power-sharing settings, issued recommendation to representatives of political organizations advocating for a wider and broader consideration of interests of divided consociational societies. We published a policy brief and a policy report on the project findings. Our continuous work and interactions with community organization and NGOs, working on and delivering services to members of non-dominant communities has additionally input the direction and content of debates on consociational democracy's representativeness. |
Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Government Democracy and Justice |
Description | The project "Exclusion Amid Inclusion" was completed in the year 2021 after a four-year working program that involves considerable field work across the four country cases, Northern Ireland, Lebanon, North Macedonia, and Bosnia Herzegovina. The project was led by the PI and COI and employed three post-doctoral fellows. This team approach facilitated multidirectional engagement within the research and practical environments: limited opportunities for policymakers to act upon insights of research, however, have provided inspiration for community groups and advocates of reform standing for the non-dominant communities in consociational regimes. As such, the face-to-face briefings with members of Parliaments in Lebanon and Bosnia, with members of legislative assemblies in Northern Ireland and Kosovo provided a useful ground-up learning experience for elected representatives and to update their policy preferences. The team repeatedly met, and continues to encounter, decision makers from regional, national, and European levels concerned with the effects of under-representation in consociational regimes on the quality of democracy. At the end of our project's funding period, and immediately before the pandemic in 2020, we delivered a successful policy-focussed workshop in Montenegro on how power-sharing can be reformed for greater inclusion of non-dominant minorities (e.g., very small ethnic/religious minorities, women, the LGBTQ+ community, etc.). This workshop brought together civil society actors and politicians from Bosnia & Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Burundi, Lebanon, and Northern Ireland to identify inclusive institutional design choices and cultivate cross-ethnic advocacy connections in anticipation of reform moments. We also conducted series of online policy briefings with lawmakers and policymakers from Northern Ireland, leaving an important mark on decision making in the core area of project: limits of representation. Overall, our project was designed to move scholarship on consociational places forward in three significant ways. First, to challenge the consideration of limitations that consociation and politics experience when delivering stability to communities formerly affected by violence. This aspiration has been largely achieved and as a result, we see growing interest in discussions about opportunities for representatives of non-dominant communities to participate and to impact decision making in divided places. Secondly, our priority has been to collect hard-to-reach data from members of so-called non- dominant groups ("others"), the activists working to bring to the attention of these significant communities and political representatives who might enjoy the formal presence in legislatures yet have limited avenues for factual change. With the help of our extensive contacts across full range of comparable study countries (e.g., Burundi and Kosovo and Iraq and Belgium), have resulted in comprehensive review of opportunities that not only about groups, but also issues marginalized systemically in consociational settings to attain broader salience. Finally, our focus from the beginning has been on civil society activists, not on policymakers, and this has brought additional benefits to reaching out and crafting a program of communication about the opportunities for representation and participation and to gradually shift the perceptions about the ownership of political systems in place. This has continued after the end of the EAI Project through individual research activities by the PI and COI, independently and in collaboration. The three post-doctoral fellows have all transitioned into further academic and policy posts and have been able to embark on further collaborative projects, exploring opportunities that have been assessed in this ESRC funding project. |
First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Government, Democracy and Justice |
Impact Types | Societal Policy & public services |
Description | Contribution to the Research, Policy and Advocacy Consortium Consultation Response for The Migrant & Minority Ethnic Council |
Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
Impact | no impact yet, contribution to policy evolution ongoing |
Description | Contribution to the Research, Policy and Advocacy Consortium Consultation Response for The Migrant & Minority Ethnic Council |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
Description | Educational experiences of minority ethnic groups in N |
Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
Description | Expert statement for OSCE HCNM recommendations on responses to COVID-19 that support social cohesion |
Geographic Reach | Europe |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
URL | https://www.osce.org/hcnm/449170 |
Description | GCSE Support & Employability Skills for Female Newcomer Students |
Amount | £2,300 (GBP) |
Organisation | Queen's University Belfast |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2020 |
End | 06/2021 |
Description | Helping People Help Themselves: The Role of Civil Society in Governance of Post-conflict Societies |
Amount | £34,744 (GBP) |
Organisation | Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2019 |
End | 05/2020 |
Description | International Political Studies Association - Conference Funding |
Amount | $7,500 (USD) |
Organisation | International Political Science Association |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | Canada |
Start | 06/2020 |
End | 01/2021 |
Description | International Political Studies Association - Conference Funding |
Amount | $7,500 (CAD) |
Organisation | International Political Science Association |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | Canada |
Start | 03/2017 |
End | 08/2017 |
Description | International Political Studies Association - Conference Funding |
Amount | $6,000 (CAD) |
Organisation | International Political Science Association |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | Canada |
Start | 01/2019 |
End | 08/2019 |
Description | International Researcher Mobility Scheme, Autonome Provinz Bozen |
Amount | € 50,666 (EUR) |
Funding ID | Decretto 334 |
Organisation | European Academy Bolzano EURAC |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | Italy |
Start | 08/2019 |
End | 12/2020 |
Description | Queen's University Belfast, Faculty Research Initiative |
Amount | £968 (GBP) |
Funding ID | Queen's University Belfast, Faculty Research Initiative |
Organisation | Queen's University Belfast |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2018 |
End | 05/2018 |
Description | Queen's University Belfast, Faculty Research Initiative |
Amount | £988 (GBP) |
Funding ID | Queen's University Belfast, Faculty Research Initiative |
Organisation | Queen's University Belfast |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2019 |
End | 05/2019 |
Description | Transforming Divided Societies into Welcoming Communities |
Amount | £60,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2021 |
End | 07/2022 |
Title | Exclusion Amid Inclusion: Power-Sharing and Non-Dominant Minorities, 2018-2019 |
Description | In the search for democratic solutions to global conflicts over the last two decades, one model of post-conflict governance has prevailed. power-sharing. Consociational power-sharing entails the representation and participation of major societal groups in the process of governing. Governmance based on consociational principles has facilitated war-to-peace transition in some of the world's most deeply divided places, from Burundi to Lebanon, Kosovo, Macedonia, Northern ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Iraq. Yet, while consociational power-sharing has been heralded as a democratic and inclusive approach to managing ethnic difference, it faces a significant trade-off. For the system to stabilise and pacify divided societies, it must marginalise those actors who were not directly involved in the conflict. By making inclusion of the dominant groups in society central to democratic governance, power-sharing excludes other groups who align with alternative identities. Our project addressed this inherent dilemma in power-sharing of exclusion amid inclusion (EAI Dilemma). We have investigated the institutional bias in power-sharing systems in favour of large groups over "non-dominant minorities" who are not explicitly included in the settlement, such as non-ethnic collectives, women and migrant communities. This project sought solutions to this democratic deficit in post-conflict societies. from over 100 interviews with primarily, political elites and members of civil society across Bosnia-Herzegovina, Northern Ireland, Lebanon and North Macedonia we identifed how power-sharing arrangements can be designed, refined and improved in ways that address the EAI problem. |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Year Produced | 2022 |
Provided To Others? | Yes |
Impact | no impact yet |
URL | https://reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk/855393/ |
Description | Collaboration with Third Sector organisation in Lebanon |
Organisation | Siren Associates |
Country | Lebanon |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | In large due part to expertise gained on project, UK based political development consultancy Siren Associates has worked with members of project to identify and outline new areas for research that will seek to engage more marginalised groups. |
Collaborator Contribution | Working with Siren has helped provide access to key stakeholders in Lebanon including the British Embassy in Beirut. |
Impact | Expertise from the EAI project has helped identify the ways in which marginalised groups (particularly refugees, women and LGBT) have been excluded in Lebanon. The project has helped identify ways and means to outreach to these different groups. Siren has also helped widen the network of stakeholders for the EAI project and therefore help dissemination of the policy recommendations. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Cooperation with stakeholders in Burundi |
Organisation | AMEBE (Association of Mentors for Business and Entrepreneurship) |
Country | Burundi |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | As part of research for the current project, the team was able to establish and later consolidate working relationships with representatives and Ngos from Burundi working on cognate issues of social inclusion of microminorities and women. Postdoc on the project (DM) and the PI are in ongoing contact with several NGOs in the country to assess models of inclusion of the above groups. |
Collaborator Contribution | Three partners from Burundi have contributed with detailed reports on the local activities, mapped NGO landscape and established contacts political actors able and willing to assess the criteria for participation and representation of nondominant minorities. |
Impact | Two reports on the status of microminorities and of women in Burundi delivered by our partners have been essential for effective reach out to policy makers on this project. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Cooperation with stakeholders in Lebanon |
Organisation | Holy Spirit University of Kaslik |
Country | Lebanon |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | As part of research for the current project, the team was able to establish and later consolidate working relationships with representatives and Ngos from Lebanon and Iraq working on cognate issues of social inclusion of microminorities, gender equality, and womens rights. Postdoc on the project (DM) and the PI are in ongoing contact with several NGOs in both countries to assess models of inclusion of the above groups. |
Collaborator Contribution | Two partners from Lebanon and Iraq have contributed with detailed reports on the local activities, mapped NGO landscape and established contacts political actors able and willing to assess the criteria for participation and representation of nondominant minorities and gender based discrimination. |
Impact | Two reports on the political representation of newcomers and on gender based discrimination in Lebanon and in Iraq delivered by our partners have been essential for effective reach out to policy makers on this project. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | IPSA colloquium: Democratization and Constitutional Design in Divided Societies |
Organisation | Brandon University |
Department | Department of Political Science |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Under the leadership of the members of research project, this conference brought together three IPSA research committees (14, 13 and 28) to examine the challenges of designing democratic institutions in divided societies. The conference provided an opportunity to examine the role of different factors (e.g., ethnicity, gender, class, political institutions, efficacy of multi-level governance, the intersection between peace and democratic stability) in fostering democratization in the context of regional and global integration. The conference reflected upon the constitutional design process in Cyprus as well as proposals that develop case studies or comparison of issues of democratization evident in any part of the world or those which engage a theoretical perspective on institutional and constitutional designs in ethnically, religiously, nationally and linguistically divided societies. |
Collaborator Contribution | The conference was convened at the University of Cyprus, Nicosia (host institution), at the time when the country was undergoing a complex and historic process of designing political institutions to bridge the gap between the island's divided communities. The conference brought together more than 130 participants, including around 50 early career scholars, from over 40 countries. Over three days in Nicosia, we ran 35 panels on a range of topics, including: Culture, Territory and Community in Diverse Societies; Comparative Perspective on Political Participation in Divided Societies; Gender, Power-Sharing and Peace Processes; The Cypriot Diaspora in a Comparative Perspective; From Paper to Peace? Examining the Role of Institutional Design in War-to-peace Transitions; Substate Nationalisms and Multilevel Governance. Highlights from the conference include the keynote address by John McGarry (Queen's University) on "What Explains the Performance of Power-Sharing Settlements?" and a roundtable discussion on "A Federal Cyprus? Comparative Perspectives on Reunification" organized by Neophytos Loizides (University of Kent). |
Impact | There is a range of individual publications in preparation as a result of this conference. PI and CoI lead on as guest editors of a special issue of the journal International Political Science Review (IPSR); PI, CoI and Murtagh (postdoc) all have their papers included as part of the project and will be recorded as project's outputs once published (provisionally late 2019). |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | IPSA colloquium: Democratization and Constitutional Design in Divided Societies |
Organisation | International Political Science Association |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Under the leadership of the members of research project, this conference brought together three IPSA research committees (14, 13 and 28) to examine the challenges of designing democratic institutions in divided societies. The conference provided an opportunity to examine the role of different factors (e.g., ethnicity, gender, class, political institutions, efficacy of multi-level governance, the intersection between peace and democratic stability) in fostering democratization in the context of regional and global integration. The conference reflected upon the constitutional design process in Cyprus as well as proposals that develop case studies or comparison of issues of democratization evident in any part of the world or those which engage a theoretical perspective on institutional and constitutional designs in ethnically, religiously, nationally and linguistically divided societies. |
Collaborator Contribution | The conference was convened at the University of Cyprus, Nicosia (host institution), at the time when the country was undergoing a complex and historic process of designing political institutions to bridge the gap between the island's divided communities. The conference brought together more than 130 participants, including around 50 early career scholars, from over 40 countries. Over three days in Nicosia, we ran 35 panels on a range of topics, including: Culture, Territory and Community in Diverse Societies; Comparative Perspective on Political Participation in Divided Societies; Gender, Power-Sharing and Peace Processes; The Cypriot Diaspora in a Comparative Perspective; From Paper to Peace? Examining the Role of Institutional Design in War-to-peace Transitions; Substate Nationalisms and Multilevel Governance. Highlights from the conference include the keynote address by John McGarry (Queen's University) on "What Explains the Performance of Power-Sharing Settlements?" and a roundtable discussion on "A Federal Cyprus? Comparative Perspectives on Reunification" organized by Neophytos Loizides (University of Kent). |
Impact | There is a range of individual publications in preparation as a result of this conference. PI and CoI lead on as guest editors of a special issue of the journal International Political Science Review (IPSR); PI, CoI and Murtagh (postdoc) all have their papers included as part of the project and will be recorded as project's outputs once published (provisionally late 2019). |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | IPSA colloquium: Disruption, Crisis, Opportunity: Whither Democratic Governance? |
Organisation | Canterbury Christ Church University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Under the leadership of the members of research project, this online colloquium brought together five IPSA research committees (14, 13, 28, 08, 30) to examine the challenges of democratic governance during the ongoing crisis. This colloquium provided an opportunity to examine the role of different factors (e.g., ethnicity, gender, class, political institutions, efficacy of multi-level governance, the intersection between peace and democratic stability) in supporting democratic governance in the context of local, regional and global challenges that the pandemix has caused and focussed specifically on deeply divided, postconflict societies that operate under consociational settings. The event took place online and featured several panels reflecting the results of this project. PI, CoI and current postdoc all contrbuted to the conference and set the agenda for debate at this two day event . |
Collaborator Contribution | The colloquium brings together several research committees of IPSA which facilitate academic dissemination of this project's results. It was be convened by the PI and hosted by his institution. Collaboration with other research committees ensured that considerable interest in the outcomes of this project could be generated - the nature of the online event allowed for the global reach and availability of the genuinely global audience (32 countries were represented) at the time when academic exchange has been stimed and discussions have ossified over the contemporary challenges, the colloquium allowed the project team to signpost the long term effects -drawing on the results of the project - of exclusion amid inclusion for governance. Out of more than 30 panels/120 participants, eight panels dealt directly with governance under powersharing systems and five roundtable discussions on contemporary challenges facing divided societies allowed the team to project its research findings across the community. |
Impact | There will be a range of individual publications that will follow the event, some of which are in preparation at this point in time. As a result of the past conferences (2017, Cyprus & 2019 Bosnia), PI and CoI have submitted a set of eight papers for a special issue of the journal International Political Science Review (IPSR, published in 2019) and will be aiming at the similar quality output as a result of this event. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | IPSA colloquium: Disruption, Crisis, Opportunity: Whither Democratic Governance? |
Organisation | International Political Science Association |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Under the leadership of the members of research project, this online colloquium brought together five IPSA research committees (14, 13, 28, 08, 30) to examine the challenges of democratic governance during the ongoing crisis. This colloquium provided an opportunity to examine the role of different factors (e.g., ethnicity, gender, class, political institutions, efficacy of multi-level governance, the intersection between peace and democratic stability) in supporting democratic governance in the context of local, regional and global challenges that the pandemix has caused and focussed specifically on deeply divided, postconflict societies that operate under consociational settings. The event took place online and featured several panels reflecting the results of this project. PI, CoI and current postdoc all contrbuted to the conference and set the agenda for debate at this two day event . |
Collaborator Contribution | The colloquium brings together several research committees of IPSA which facilitate academic dissemination of this project's results. It was be convened by the PI and hosted by his institution. Collaboration with other research committees ensured that considerable interest in the outcomes of this project could be generated - the nature of the online event allowed for the global reach and availability of the genuinely global audience (32 countries were represented) at the time when academic exchange has been stimed and discussions have ossified over the contemporary challenges, the colloquium allowed the project team to signpost the long term effects -drawing on the results of the project - of exclusion amid inclusion for governance. Out of more than 30 panels/120 participants, eight panels dealt directly with governance under powersharing systems and five roundtable discussions on contemporary challenges facing divided societies allowed the team to project its research findings across the community. |
Impact | There will be a range of individual publications that will follow the event, some of which are in preparation at this point in time. As a result of the past conferences (2017, Cyprus & 2019 Bosnia), PI and CoI have submitted a set of eight papers for a special issue of the journal International Political Science Review (IPSR, published in 2019) and will be aiming at the similar quality output as a result of this event. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | IPSA colloquium: Diversity and Democratic Governance |
Organisation | International Political Science Association |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Under the leadership of the members of research project, this conference brought together five IPSA research committees (14, 13, 28, 44, 50) to examine the challenges of democratic governance in divided societies. This colloquium provides an opportunity to examine the role of different factors (e.g., ethnicity, gender, class, political institutions, efficacy of multi-level governance, the intersection between peace and democratic stability) in supporting democratic governance in the context of regional and global integration of deeply divided, postconflict societies that operate under consociational settings. The conference is to take place in Bosnia and will reflect upon contemporary challenges of governing postconflict society, and will assess proposals to develop case study and comparative approaches to delivering effective governance to people. PI, CoI and two current postdocs are leading the conference committee and set the agenda for debate at this five day event hosted by the University of Sarajevo. |
Collaborator Contribution | The colloquium brings together several research committees of IPSA which facilitate academic dissemination. It will be convened at the University of Sarajevo (host institution), at the time when the country was undergoing a complex process of revising the ossified political institutions to deliver better governance to all groups living in the country. Our local partners and host institution have greatly facilitated an opportunity for the project team to meet and discuss with local and national political elites the challenges these face in a open and frank manner and bring to their attention the challenges that limited accountability of governments can cause to postconflict societies' transition towards democracy. Over five days in Sarajevo, we will run over 50 panels on a range of topics, including: Culture, Territory and Community in Diverse Societies; Comparative Perspective on Political Participation in Divided Societies; Gender, Power-Sharing and Peace Processes; The Bosnia Diaspora in a Comparative Perspective; Role of Institutional Design in War-to-peace Transitions; Substate Nationalisms; Multilevel Governance. Highlights from the conference include the keynote address by Kanchan Chandra (New York University) and five roundtable discussions on contemporary challenges facing Bosnian as well as Western Balkan politics. |
Impact | There will be a range of individual publications that will follow the event, some of which are in preparation at this point in time. As a result of the past conference (2017, Cyprus), Pi and CoI have submitted a set of eight papers for a special issue of the journal International Political Science Review (IPSR, to be published in 2019) and will be aiming at the similar quality output as a result of this event. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | IPSA colloquium: Diversity and Democratic Governance |
Organisation | University of Sarajevo |
Country | Bosnia and Herzegovina |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Under the leadership of the members of research project, this conference brought together five IPSA research committees (14, 13, 28, 44, 50) to examine the challenges of democratic governance in divided societies. This colloquium provides an opportunity to examine the role of different factors (e.g., ethnicity, gender, class, political institutions, efficacy of multi-level governance, the intersection between peace and democratic stability) in supporting democratic governance in the context of regional and global integration of deeply divided, postconflict societies that operate under consociational settings. The conference is to take place in Bosnia and will reflect upon contemporary challenges of governing postconflict society, and will assess proposals to develop case study and comparative approaches to delivering effective governance to people. PI, CoI and two current postdocs are leading the conference committee and set the agenda for debate at this five day event hosted by the University of Sarajevo. |
Collaborator Contribution | The colloquium brings together several research committees of IPSA which facilitate academic dissemination. It will be convened at the University of Sarajevo (host institution), at the time when the country was undergoing a complex process of revising the ossified political institutions to deliver better governance to all groups living in the country. Our local partners and host institution have greatly facilitated an opportunity for the project team to meet and discuss with local and national political elites the challenges these face in a open and frank manner and bring to their attention the challenges that limited accountability of governments can cause to postconflict societies' transition towards democracy. Over five days in Sarajevo, we will run over 50 panels on a range of topics, including: Culture, Territory and Community in Diverse Societies; Comparative Perspective on Political Participation in Divided Societies; Gender, Power-Sharing and Peace Processes; The Bosnia Diaspora in a Comparative Perspective; Role of Institutional Design in War-to-peace Transitions; Substate Nationalisms; Multilevel Governance. Highlights from the conference include the keynote address by Kanchan Chandra (New York University) and five roundtable discussions on contemporary challenges facing Bosnian as well as Western Balkan politics. |
Impact | There will be a range of individual publications that will follow the event, some of which are in preparation at this point in time. As a result of the past conference (2017, Cyprus), Pi and CoI have submitted a set of eight papers for a special issue of the journal International Political Science Review (IPSR, to be published in 2019) and will be aiming at the similar quality output as a result of this event. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Making power sharing institutions work |
Organisation | University of Montenegro |
Country | Montenegro |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Project Team (PI, CoI, two postdocs) hosted a policy workshop in Podgorica, Montenegro facilitated by Dr Olivera Komar, of University of Montenegro, February 19-21 2020. We have invited participants from all our case study countries, as well as sevearl academics working on participation and representation of groups whose concerns, issues and priorities are not taken up in the either the process of adopting new political institutions or in the implementation of those arrangements. While most studies of divided societies focus on relations between the groups that represent the dominant cleavage in society, we focussed on the impact of postconflict governance on groups not explicitly accommodated in democratic political institutional setting. The two day event with 16 participants, including representatives of national governments, NGOs and international donor organisations; drew together relevant expertise and ideas from across the world of divided societies to inform data analysis and project development, this event provided a forum for the discussion of equality and inclusion in powersharing places to move forward the project's agenda. |
Collaborator Contribution | Faciliatation of the workshop, logistical support |
Impact | No formal outcomes have resulted from this partnership yet. Members of the project team are individually preparing their country specific policy recommendations/ digest papers for dissemination among the relevant country specific audiences, particulary policymakers and policymakers' advisors with an aim of completing this work by June 2020. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Workshop Exclusion amid Inclusion?: How Power Sharing Engages Non-Dominant Communities |
Organisation | Brandon University |
Department | Department of Political Science |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This conference addressed this critical issue of the exclusion of non-dominant groups that are not explicitly represented in power-sharing agreements; of exclusion amid inclusion. It allowed for the first presentation of projects results. It brought together scholars concerned with this question from a range of perspectives, disciplines and fields, including but not limited to: democracy in divided societies, conflict resolution, democratization, post-conflict state building, political settlements, ethnic politics, gender, nationalism and national identity, migration and equality and diversity studies. A number of related topics was explored in this two day event, including the impact of power-sharing on non-aligned groups, such as non-ethnic political parties, civic social movements, migrant communities, women and LGBTQ groups. |
Collaborator Contribution | Keynote delivered by the CoI of the project; her travel was supported by her host institution (Brandon; contribution in kind) |
Impact | A range of single papers are now in preparation as a result of this event; the project team has edited a special section of "Nationalism and Ethnic Politics" journal, https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/fnep20/24/3 including three papers presented at the workshop and one specially written conceptual framework paper (PI, CoI, postdoc). The team had an opportunity to present the research project to a series of community organisations in N Ireland during the conference and engaged several of their representatives as participants of the roundtable at the event. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Workshop Exclusion amid Inclusion?: How Power Sharing Engages Non-Dominant Communities |
Organisation | Queen's University Belfast |
Department | School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This conference addressed this critical issue of the exclusion of non-dominant groups that are not explicitly represented in power-sharing agreements; of exclusion amid inclusion. It allowed for the first presentation of projects results. It brought together scholars concerned with this question from a range of perspectives, disciplines and fields, including but not limited to: democracy in divided societies, conflict resolution, democratization, post-conflict state building, political settlements, ethnic politics, gender, nationalism and national identity, migration and equality and diversity studies. A number of related topics was explored in this two day event, including the impact of power-sharing on non-aligned groups, such as non-ethnic political parties, civic social movements, migrant communities, women and LGBTQ groups. |
Collaborator Contribution | Keynote delivered by the CoI of the project; her travel was supported by her host institution (Brandon; contribution in kind) |
Impact | A range of single papers are now in preparation as a result of this event; the project team has edited a special section of "Nationalism and Ethnic Politics" journal, https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/fnep20/24/3 including three papers presented at the workshop and one specially written conceptual framework paper (PI, CoI, postdoc). The team had an opportunity to present the research project to a series of community organisations in N Ireland during the conference and engaged several of their representatives as participants of the roundtable at the event. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | Workshop Political Representation in Divided Societies |
Organisation | Brandon University |
Department | Department of Political Science |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Project Team (PI, CoI, two postdocs) hosted a second in series of project's workshops at the University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies. We have invited contributors to examine participation and representation of groups whose concerns, issues and priorities are not taken up in the either the process of adopting new political institutions or in the implementation of those arrangements. While most studies of divided societies focus on relations between the groups that represent the dominant cleavage in society, we focussed on the impact of postconflict institutions on groups not explicitly accommodated in democratic political institutional setting. The team has organised the workshop and leading the two day event of around 25 participants, including representatives of Brussels based international organisations; drawing together relevant expertise and ideas from across the world of divided societies to inform data analysis and project development, this event provided a forum for the discussion of equality and inclusion in powersharing places to move forward the project's agenda. |
Collaborator Contribution | Projects CoI has travelled from Canada to participate in the workshop which also featured as a team meeting, some of the costs associated with travel were carried by the CoI's home institution, while others by the PI's host institution. Our host institutions, University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies has equally provided in kind contribution facilitating catering and use of the premises. This allowed us to focus squarely on exchange of ideas and discuss avenues for developing the project agenda further. participation by representatives from international organisations based in Brussels additionally aided establishing new contacts in the countries studied on the project and reaching out to policymaking community ahead of results dissemination in Lebanon, Macedonia, and Bosnia (all in the second half of 2019) |
Impact | No formal outcomes have resulted from this partnership yet. Members of the project team are individually preparing their papers delivered for publication in academic journals in the course of 2019 |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Workshop Political Representation in Divided Societies |
Organisation | Brandon University |
Department | Department of Political Science |
Country | Canada |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Project Team (PI, CoI, two postdocs) hosted a second in series of project's workshops at the University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies. We have invited contributors to examine participation and representation of groups whose concerns, issues and priorities are not taken up in the either the process of adopting new political institutions or in the implementation of those arrangements. While most studies of divided societies focus on relations between the groups that represent the dominant cleavage in society, we focussed on the impact of postconflict institutions on groups not explicitly accommodated in democratic political institutional setting. The team has organised the workshop and leading the two day event of around 25 participants, including representatives of Brussels based international organisations; drawing together relevant expertise and ideas from across the world of divided societies to inform data analysis and project development, this event provided a forum for the discussion of equality and inclusion in powersharing places to move forward the project's agenda. |
Collaborator Contribution | Projects CoI has travelled from Canada to participate in the workshop which also featured as a team meeting, some of the costs associated with travel were carried by the CoI's home institution, while others by the PI's host institution. Our host institutions, University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies has equally provided in kind contribution facilitating catering and use of the premises. This allowed us to focus squarely on exchange of ideas and discuss avenues for developing the project agenda further. participation by representatives from international organisations based in Brussels additionally aided establishing new contacts in the countries studied on the project and reaching out to policymaking community ahead of results dissemination in Lebanon, Macedonia, and Bosnia (all in the second half of 2019) |
Impact | No formal outcomes have resulted from this partnership yet. Members of the project team are individually preparing their papers delivered for publication in academic journals in the course of 2019 |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Workshop Political Representation in Divided Societies |
Organisation | Queen's University Belfast |
Department | School of Politics |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Project Team (PI, CoI, two postdocs) hosted a second in series of project's workshops at the University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies. We have invited contributors to examine participation and representation of groups whose concerns, issues and priorities are not taken up in the either the process of adopting new political institutions or in the implementation of those arrangements. While most studies of divided societies focus on relations between the groups that represent the dominant cleavage in society, we focussed on the impact of postconflict institutions on groups not explicitly accommodated in democratic political institutional setting. The team has organised the workshop and leading the two day event of around 25 participants, including representatives of Brussels based international organisations; drawing together relevant expertise and ideas from across the world of divided societies to inform data analysis and project development, this event provided a forum for the discussion of equality and inclusion in powersharing places to move forward the project's agenda. |
Collaborator Contribution | Projects CoI has travelled from Canada to participate in the workshop which also featured as a team meeting, some of the costs associated with travel were carried by the CoI's home institution, while others by the PI's host institution. Our host institutions, University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies has equally provided in kind contribution facilitating catering and use of the premises. This allowed us to focus squarely on exchange of ideas and discuss avenues for developing the project agenda further. participation by representatives from international organisations based in Brussels additionally aided establishing new contacts in the countries studied on the project and reaching out to policymaking community ahead of results dissemination in Lebanon, Macedonia, and Bosnia (all in the second half of 2019) |
Impact | No formal outcomes have resulted from this partnership yet. Members of the project team are individually preparing their papers delivered for publication in academic journals in the course of 2019 |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Workshop Political Representation in Divided Societies |
Organisation | Queen's University Belfast |
Department | School of Politics |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Project Team (PI, CoI, two postdocs) hosted a second in series of project's workshops at the University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies. We have invited contributors to examine participation and representation of groups whose concerns, issues and priorities are not taken up in the either the process of adopting new political institutions or in the implementation of those arrangements. While most studies of divided societies focus on relations between the groups that represent the dominant cleavage in society, we focussed on the impact of postconflict institutions on groups not explicitly accommodated in democratic political institutional setting. The team has organised the workshop and leading the two day event of around 25 participants, including representatives of Brussels based international organisations; drawing together relevant expertise and ideas from across the world of divided societies to inform data analysis and project development, this event provided a forum for the discussion of equality and inclusion in powersharing places to move forward the project's agenda. |
Collaborator Contribution | Projects CoI has travelled from Canada to participate in the workshop which also featured as a team meeting, some of the costs associated with travel were carried by the CoI's home institution, while others by the PI's host institution. Our host institutions, University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies has equally provided in kind contribution facilitating catering and use of the premises. This allowed us to focus squarely on exchange of ideas and discuss avenues for developing the project agenda further. participation by representatives from international organisations based in Brussels additionally aided establishing new contacts in the countries studied on the project and reaching out to policymaking community ahead of results dissemination in Lebanon, Macedonia, and Bosnia (all in the second half of 2019) |
Impact | No formal outcomes have resulted from this partnership yet. Members of the project team are individually preparing their papers delivered for publication in academic journals in the course of 2019 |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Workshop Political Representation in Divided Societies |
Organisation | University of Kent |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Project Team (PI, CoI, two postdocs) hosted a second in series of project's workshops at the University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies. We have invited contributors to examine participation and representation of groups whose concerns, issues and priorities are not taken up in the either the process of adopting new political institutions or in the implementation of those arrangements. While most studies of divided societies focus on relations between the groups that represent the dominant cleavage in society, we focussed on the impact of postconflict institutions on groups not explicitly accommodated in democratic political institutional setting. The team has organised the workshop and leading the two day event of around 25 participants, including representatives of Brussels based international organisations; drawing together relevant expertise and ideas from across the world of divided societies to inform data analysis and project development, this event provided a forum for the discussion of equality and inclusion in powersharing places to move forward the project's agenda. |
Collaborator Contribution | Projects CoI has travelled from Canada to participate in the workshop which also featured as a team meeting, some of the costs associated with travel were carried by the CoI's home institution, while others by the PI's host institution. Our host institutions, University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies has equally provided in kind contribution facilitating catering and use of the premises. This allowed us to focus squarely on exchange of ideas and discuss avenues for developing the project agenda further. participation by representatives from international organisations based in Brussels additionally aided establishing new contacts in the countries studied on the project and reaching out to policymaking community ahead of results dissemination in Lebanon, Macedonia, and Bosnia (all in the second half of 2019) |
Impact | No formal outcomes have resulted from this partnership yet. Members of the project team are individually preparing their papers delivered for publication in academic journals in the course of 2019 |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Workshop Political Representation in Divided Societies |
Organisation | University of Kent |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Project Team (PI, CoI, two postdocs) hosted a second in series of project's workshops at the University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies. We have invited contributors to examine participation and representation of groups whose concerns, issues and priorities are not taken up in the either the process of adopting new political institutions or in the implementation of those arrangements. While most studies of divided societies focus on relations between the groups that represent the dominant cleavage in society, we focussed on the impact of postconflict institutions on groups not explicitly accommodated in democratic political institutional setting. The team has organised the workshop and leading the two day event of around 25 participants, including representatives of Brussels based international organisations; drawing together relevant expertise and ideas from across the world of divided societies to inform data analysis and project development, this event provided a forum for the discussion of equality and inclusion in powersharing places to move forward the project's agenda. |
Collaborator Contribution | Projects CoI has travelled from Canada to participate in the workshop which also featured as a team meeting, some of the costs associated with travel were carried by the CoI's home institution, while others by the PI's host institution. Our host institutions, University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies has equally provided in kind contribution facilitating catering and use of the premises. This allowed us to focus squarely on exchange of ideas and discuss avenues for developing the project agenda further. participation by representatives from international organisations based in Brussels additionally aided establishing new contacts in the countries studied on the project and reaching out to policymaking community ahead of results dissemination in Lebanon, Macedonia, and Bosnia (all in the second half of 2019) |
Impact | No formal outcomes have resulted from this partnership yet. Members of the project team are individually preparing their papers delivered for publication in academic journals in the course of 2019 |
Start Year | 2018 |
Description | Appearance on Beirut Banyan Podcast to raise money for Lebanon |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | In aftermath of the Beirut blast Drew appeared with number of other guests to discuss the Beirut blast. Audience members were encouraged to contribute to various charities that were advertised throughout. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qA_tb5O7MaI |
Description | Appearance on The Michael Brooks Podcast |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Drew was invited to discuss the 4th August Beirut blast in long form interview. Wider public interest in Lebanon was sparked in the aftermath of the blast and number of viewers reached out to report their increased knowledge. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB_23TqXD5w |
Description | As protests continue, Lebanon's sectarian power-sharing stalemate must end |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Following a brief visit to one of the case study countries, the CI and postdoc have drafted an overview of main issues contested by the protesters in Lebanon. Some uptake in interest and further requests for contributions were received as a result. Dec 20 2019 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://theconversation.com/as-protests-continue-lebanons-sectarian-power-sharing-stalemate-must-end... |
Description | Beirut Banyan Podcast: Lebanon and Northern Ireland Comparison |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Drew was invited to talk about the post-conflict experiences of Northern Ireland and Lebanon in long form podcast. The show compared and contrasted the the efficacy of power-sharing in both states. The show received good online engagement through social media. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N48rUVZNRT8 |
Description | Blogpost, Irish Politics Forum |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Post by PI, jointly curated by the Political Studies Association of Ireland (PSAI) and Political Studies Association (PSA). In discussing the impact of Brexit the post focusses on its consequences for the future political unity of the country as a whole, focussing particularly on the role it plays while marginalising minority communities. As such it reflects the results of discussions with NGO stakeholders in Northern Ireland about their input into political process on the Island and British islands as a whole. Brexit's Ethnopolitical Dimension, March 7, 2019. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://politicalreform.ie/2019/03/07/brexit-ethnopolitical-dimension/ |
Description | Blogpost, PSA Insight |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Blogpost by the CoI, Allison McCulloch, focusses on the impact of perceptions of difference on opportunities to avail of consensus in political decision making in Northern Ireland powersharing, marking the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.The border is back, April 10 2018. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://www.psa.ac.uk/psa/news/border-back |
Description | Blogpost, PSA Insight Blog |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Blogpost by PI discussing the impact of the Good Friday Agreement on minorities in Northern Ireland. Presents in easily accessibly manner key questions that underlay the project. What has been the effect of GFA on the province's minorities? April 10, 2018. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://www.psa.ac.uk/psa/news/what-has-been-effect-gfa-province's-minorities |
Description | Blogpost, Qpol |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The PI and Postdoc have published this op-ed in the Queen's University Belfast blog series following the meetings with the stakeholders from NGOs in Northern Ireland - the discussion links directly to the project's anticipated outcomes suggesting that the key to stability of powersharing lies in inclusion of all segments of societies in political dialogue. Beyond Brexit: Potential Fallout for 'Others' in Northern Ireland's Power-Sharing Agreement, March 8, 2019 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://qpol.qub.ac.uk/beyond-brexit-potential-fallout-for-others-in-ni-power-sharing-agreement/ |
Description | Blogpost, The Conversation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Blogpost by the postdoc (Drew Mikhael) reflecting on some of the findings from the fieldwork conducted in Lebanon for the project. It brings attention to the impact of political instability in the neighbourhood on domestic progress and consensus building in Lebanon's consociation. Syrian refugees remain trapped and marginalised by Lebanon's power-sharing politics, December 11, 2018. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://theconversation.com/syrian-refugees-remain-trapped-and-marginalised-by-lebanons-power-sharing... |
Description | Blogpost: The Conversation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | In this blogpost project's postdoc Drew Mikhael reflects on his personal fieldwork in Africa over the summer period where he explored avenues to add local experiences in cases comparable to those already included on the project to the study of immigration in postconflict places managed by consociational arrangements. Burundi: crisis looms as 2020 elections open up old divisions, January 24, 2019 https://theconversation.com/burundi-crisis-looms-as-2020-elections-open-up-old-divisions-110049 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://theconversation.com/burundi-crisis-looms-as-2020-elections-open-up-old-divisions-110049 |
Description | Delivering governance in divided societies |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
Results and Impact | Conducted capacity building workshop with civil society organisation AMEBE in Burundi (12 November 2019) focusing on knowledge exchange. The workshop sought to develop knowledge about CSOs ability to address needs of local communities and the workshop was specifically designed to help with grant writing, human resource management and refining the contributions of organisations working in divided postconflcit societies and focussing on inclusion in political process. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | European elections and what they could mean for Northern Ireland |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | Dr Drew Mikhael PDRA looks at what local elections and EU poll could mean for NI in relation to Brexit, this has sparked further interest in the work of the team across GB. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belfast-news/european-elections-what-could-mean-16317941 |
Description | Federalism, Democracy and Minority Rights: What about the Others? |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | The CI authored this contrubition to reflect on challenges of accommodating diverse populations at the blog invitation hoste by Canterbury Christ Church University (also translated into Burmese and French) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | http://50shadesoffederalism.com/diversity-management/federalism-democracy-inclusion-others/ |
Description | Making political institutions more inclusive - Policymakers Roundtable June 6 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Two MLAs, a former Northern Ireland Justice Minister and a former Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly joined civil society representatives and Queen's researchers on 6 June 2019 for a roundtable discussion examining the ways in which power-sharing structures in post-conflict societies, in working to include the main protagonists, tend to exclude those not aligned to the main political blocs. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.qub.ac.uk/public-engagement/News/Makingpoliticalinstitutionsmoreinclusive.html |
Description | Making power sharing democracy work February 2020 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | The team has brought key policymaking participants from the case study countries to this two day workshop/formal working group to discuss pathways for impact from the project results. We have identified the most engaged disseminators for individual countries from our poool of contact/interviewd, reaching out to several governmental offices across countries and inviting key third sector representatives to take the findings from the project forward in their home countries. 16 people from Lebanon, Burundi, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia, Northern Ireland, South Tyrol and Belgium have participated in formal discussions to map out the avenues to translate acaedmic work into policychange across the board of cases, policy issues and contexts. The event took place in Montenegro to bring all participants onto neutral footing and ensure mutual understanding away from everyday concerns, alongside best practices of track 1.5 diplomacy |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Minorities in Consociational Power-Sharing |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | PI has contributed to the specialist blog series on issues of accommodating minorities in powersharing political systems, reflecting on the provisional outcomes of the project (July 2019) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://50shadesoffederalism.com/uncategorized/minorities-in-consociational-power-sharing/ |
Description | Mostar. Real Icarus are jumping to the head (OZ in Polish) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | In 2018 civic resistance in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been one of the fulcra of minorities voicing discontent with their exclusion from politics in the country. Our postdoc reflects on the impact of these protest one year on and links this to reserach agenda of the project looking at the work conducted in Bosnia and framing this for the polish speaking readership. In New Eastern Europe's polish edition. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://www.new.org.pl/5911-nowa-europa-wschodnia-12019 |
Description | NGO workshop Belfast Febr |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
Results and Impact | Discussion with several prominent representatives of the NGO community in N Ireland was used as a feeding forward mechanism to inform future meetings with policymakers. This meeting allowed the team (postdoc and PI) to deepen understanding of framing of findings to achieve more uptake. In general the audience did not challenge the project findings but underlined that additional role media can play to amplify and support understanding of issues at the heart of the project. A few of more helpful suggestions included recommendations to ensure that the project includes voices more readily taken into account and going beyond tokenistic inclusion. In terms of consociational mechanisms, funding apparatus, political inclusion and conversation horizontally and vertically and in the media the project received feedback that much of more aspirational change is being drowned out. The discussion has certainly helped shaping the impact agenda of the project in Northern Ireland. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Northern Ireland reforms 'ethnic veto' to help get its legislature back to work |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Following the brief visit to Lebanon, the country studied in the project, the CI and PDRA have published an opinion piece in the Coversation (Dec 20 2019) which was picked up by the Monkey Cage. The contributors were invited to write an op-ed to coalesce interest in the new agreement about the restoration of power in NI which is building on project's results (Jan 18 2020) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/01/18/northern-ireland-reforms-ethnic-veto-help-get-its... |
Description | Northern Ireland: Power-Sharing in Crisis |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Dr Murtagh, postdoc has contributed to the specialist blog series on issues of accommodating minorities in powersharing political systems, reflecting on the provisional outcomes of the project (July 2018) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://50shadesoffederalism.com/case-studies/northern-ireland-power-sharing-in-crisis/ |
Description | Northern Ireland: as marching season begins, a new political force is on the rise |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Ahead of the July 13 celebrations the PI and Postdoc have contributed to the ongoing debate about the divisions in NI society, thematising particuarly the worrying increase in violence and outlining potential impact on longterm stability in the province. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://theconversation.com/northern-ireland-as-marching-season-begins-a-new-political-force-is-on-t... |
Description | Op-ed, Washington Post |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The CoI and Postdoc on the project have published this op-ed in the highly visible Mokey Cage, Washington Post affiliated blog following the week of fieldwork research in Northern Ireland. This has a direct impact on perceptions of crisis and views on potential impact non-dominant groups in consociational systems might have - the finding that links directly to the project's anticipated outcomes. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
URL | http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/03/02/northern-ireland-is-in-crisis-because-o... |
Description | Others in Deeply Divided Society - Project Presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | The Team (PI CI PDRA) have run an online policymakers' focussed presentation to showcase project results and make sense of the findings from the project to policymakers in Northern Ireland and in European institutions |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | PSA Video blog 2018 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | PI and postdoc have provided two pieces for the Political Studies Association UK Videoblogs on the Good Friday Agreement (Agarin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1lp1fWWWcM and Murtagh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U95jT-a68E ) these centred on the aspects of the project findings and brought some of the conclusions from fieldwork to attention of researchers |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | PSA: TOWARDS THE BREAK-UP OF THE UNION? |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Hosted by the Political Studies Association at the British Academy on 24 Jan 2019, PI joined the public panel discussing how Brexit might impact the future of the Union of the United Kingdom in political, social and economic terms - and whether we may even see the end of the UK as we know it. The nations of the UK have returned very different votes, driven by different motivations - showing a profound level of division of opinions that, more two years after the referendum, still remain unaddressed Posing new and unexpected challenges to the Union, which could be further exacerbated by a No Deal exit, PI's contribution raised additional question on the impact on communities that have no voice in politics in part of the Union, e.g. immigrant and Commonwealth citizens in N Ireland and the role that political polarisation has had on accommodation of their rights in post Brexit consociation in Belfast. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.psa.ac.uk/resources/whats-happening%C2%A0brexit-towards-break-union |
Description | Podcast appearance Beirut Banyan |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Long form discussion where Drew discussed the political conditions that led to the political conditions of Lebanon. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVPKblGRCsk |
Description | Power-Sharing Performance: Assessing a Mixed Track Record |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The CI on the project has been invited to the Lebanese American University, Beirut in November to speak to The Challenges of Power Sharing in Post-Uprisings Arab World in front of the policymaking and policyadvising audience. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Power-Sharing Performance: Assessing a Mixed Track Record (in Arabic translation) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | During the visit to Lebanon the CI has been invited to contribute to the blogseries of the Institute for Social Justice and Conflict Resolution, Lebanese American University outlining the issues with powersharing and identifying potential avenues for reform, these reflected particularly on the onlgoing debate/political contestation of institutional reform in Lebanon. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Roundtable Cyprus |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | CoI participated in roundtable discussion on Cyprus Perspectives on Reunification at the side of IPSA Colloquium 2017 in Nicosia. The roundtable included several participants of peae talk held later in Geneva on island's reunification; many have commented on the importance of considering the voice and interests of non-dominant groups that the project assesses. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | The Place of Others - Migrant & Minority Council Northern Ireland event |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
Results and Impact | The PI and PDRA contributed to a panel discussing the situation of with the human rights (esp access to eduation, social welfare and labour market) in Northern Ireland, during the Belfast based event in Northern Ireland November 2021 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | The Rights of Others - Imagine Belfast |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The PI and postdoc contributed to a panel discussing the situation of with the human rights in Northern Ireland, during the Imagine Belfast science festival in Northern Ireland 27 March 2019 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/imagine-the-uks-future-relationship-with-the-eu-tickets-53952152340 |
Description | Veto Rights and Minority Protections in Consociational Settings |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The CI was invited to speak about the findings from the project on "Veto Rights and Minority Protections in Consociational Settings" at the academic/practitioner workshop "Beyond Numbers: Comparing Mechanisms for Substantive Representation of Ethnic Minorities and Indigenous Peoples hosted by McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada 2018. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | When the state turns against its own citizens, resistance becomes duty? OZ |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | In 2018 civic resistance in Bosnia and Herzegovina has been one of the fulcra of minorities voicing discontent with their exclusion from politics in the country. Our postdoc reflects on the impact of these protest one year on and links this to reserach agenda of the project |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://neweasterneurope.eu/2019/08/26/when-the-state-turns-against-its-own-citizens-resistance-beco... |
Description | Why the DRC's latest power-sharing deal will struggle |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The Postdoc has published this op-ed jointly with an external colleagues following the comparative research in postconflcit societies - the discussion links directly to the project's anticipated outcomes suggesting that the key to stability of postconflict societies lies in inclusion of all formerly conflciting parties in political dialogue. "Why the DRC's latest power-sharing deal will struggle - just like previous ones" March 26 2019 |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | https://theconversation.com/why-the-drcs-latest-power-sharing-deal-will-struggle-just-like-previous-... |
Description | With the Assembly back in business, look out for the Dáil elections |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The PI - jointly with an external colleague- has been invited to contribute to and reflect on the impact reinstatement of the NI assembly would have on the outstanding elections in R o Ireland. This contribution reflects on the work in the Province and feeds forward the research following fmro the project |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.psa.ac.uk/psa/news/assembly-back-business-look-out-d%C3%A1il-elections |