Tribunes, racism and deadlock politics in Northern Ireland

ABSTRACT

Both Sinn Féin and the DUP have successfully mobilised ethnic tribune strategies in order to secure dominance in the electoral politics of Northern Ireland. Alongside this development, Northern Irish society has become markedly more diverse as a result of increasing inward migration. While immigration has enriched the array of cultural variety in the territory, it has been accompanied by increasing evidence of high profile racism. This raises questions as to how political parties that have profited from ethnic tribune strategies might adapt to the realities of a more diverse society. This paper illustrates the manner in which Sinn Féin and the DUP have approached the issue of racism against ethnic minorities, using an in-depth, qualitative analysis of party language. The data are drawn from a series of interviews with elected representatives, party literature, and from debates in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Two key findings are discussed. Firstly, the paper notes a lack of clarity in the manner in which both parties approach the subjects of racism and sectarianism. Secondly, the paper highlights the process by which varieties of racism experienced by ethnic minorities, have become absorbed by debates traditionally associated with bi-national division in the territory.

KEYWORDS:

• Northern Ireland
• racism
• tribune parties
• ideological positioning

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to Catherine McGlynn for reading this work in its various stages and offering constructive criticism throughout. Andrew Mycock, James McAuley and Shaun McDaid also contributed useful insights during the research and writing process. Richard Burns carefully proofed the text and highlighted my many errors. The reviewers and editorial team helped greatly to improve the final product. Any problems that remain in this paper are entirely the fault of the author.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on the contributor

Gavin Hart completed his BA in politics and a PhD on immigration in Northern Ireland at the University of Huddersfield. He now works as a teaching assistant and researcher in the Division of Criminology, Politics and Sociology at Huddersfield. His research interests include the politics of diversity, the operation of political parties, and approaches to the management of conflict in deeply divided societies. This article contains work that was funded by the Centre for Citizenship, Conflict, Identity and Diversity at the University of Huddersfield. E-mail: [email protected]

Notes

1 Caitríona Ruane is the former Sinn Féin MLA for South Down who held senior positions in the party and the executive prior to her retirement in 2017.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Centre for Citizenship, Conflict, Identity and Diversity at the University of Huddersfield.