Sinn Féin and ‘New Republicanism’ in Belfast

Abstract

The political transformation of Sinn Féin has been marked by leadership-driven policy changes and increasing participation within the local state. The most important arena for the fusion of these two developments has been Belfast. Here, Sinn Féin's participatory politics has seen the party evolve from cheerleader for an IRA prepared to destroy the city, into a formidable force, now the largest party on Belfast City Council. This article examines why Belfast proved the major site of the contradictions of the Republican dual strategy of armed struggle and electoral politics. It explores why Republicans in the city began to harness the local state rather than attempt its destruction. Since the 1990s, Sinn Féin has attempted to claim Belfast as a shared city as part of its national strategy of creating an ‘Ireland of equals’. Nonetheless, the political and, in some instances, territorial, displacement of Unionists, have contributed to continuing ethno-sectarianism within the city, albeit set in a more peaceful overarching context. As Sinn Féin's policy has evolved, the party has moved from defensive forms of participation, involving the assertion of welfare rights for its constituents, towards positive leadership roles in the reconstruction of Belfast. The article assesses the political and demographic impulses to this changed approach. In particular, it explores the impact of the aggregate growth of the Nationalist population and the rise of a Catholic middle class upon Sinn Féin's electoral strategy.

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank Yvonne Murphy and Kris Brown in the Northern Ireland Political Collection, Linenhall Library, Belfast, for their help in archival retrieval for this article. He also wishes to thank those Sinn Féin councillors and officials who agreed to be interviewed as part of the ESRC New Nationalism in Northern Ireland project (R222000668).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jonathan Tonge

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