The State of Northern Ireland and the Democratic Deficit: Between Sectarianism and Neo-Liberalism

Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, the image projected of Northern Ireland in the mainstream media is frequently that of a newly prosperous, modern, post-conflict society - a rare example of a successful peace process. Promoted as a great place to live and work, the garden seemed to be getting rosier by the day, that is until the Stormont Assembly collapsed in 2017. Written to coincide with the twentieth anniversary of the GFA, this book argues that the seeds of recent problems were sown in the 1998 agreement. The fiasco of a Renewable Heating Incentive that overpaid participants, the lingering whiff of corruption, communities in crisis and growing poverty are all symptoms of the inherent failings of the supposed settlement. Current difficulties are more than teething problems arising from the transition from war to peace and neo-liberalism; they're the first instalment of a deeper crisis in a northern Irish state and society, which has never properly addressed the corrosive nature of sectarianism. Rather than ridding Northern Ireland of sectarianism, neo-liberalism, operating in the absence of armed conflict, has been able to accommodate and, in some instances, create a new form of sectarianism. The GFA has led to a profound democratic deficit. This book focuses on the nature of the North's new sectarian political class who are the principal beneficiaries of the GFA, but attention is also drawn to the labour movement, the plight of precarious and migrant workers, and the undermining of third sector autonomy. Behind the latter is the continuing suffering within communities still impacted by the long period of armed conflict and the evolution of republicanism and Unionism-Loyalism.

Paul Stewart was born and brought up in Derry and Belfast, and was until recently Professor of Sociology of Work and Employment at the University of Strathclyde, where he coordinated the Marie Curie "ChangingEmployment" programme (2012-2016). He has published on the impact of sectarianism on Polish and Lithuanian migrant workers in the north of Ireland. He is a member of UNITE and a non-executive director of CAIRDE Teo, an Irish language community association in Armagh City, and a participant in the Peadar O'Donnell Socialist Republican Forum. He is co-author of We Sell Our Time No More (Pluto Press, 2009), and was editor of the British Sociological Association's journal Work, Employment and Society. He is on the editorial committee of Capital and Class. Tommy McKearney is a former member of the IRA, a political ex-prisoner and hunger striker. Remaining interested in contemporary politics, he regularly contributes to media debates on Irish republican politics. He is the author of The Provisional IRA: From Insurrection to Parliament (Pluto Press, 2011) and writes a regular column for the monthly Socialist Voice. An active trade unionist, he is on the National Executive of the Independent Workers Union. He is involved in the Peadar O'Donnell Socialist Republican Forum which is building a united socialist movement in Ireland. Originally from County Tyrone, he now lives in County Monaghan in the Irish Republic. Gearoid O Machail is an Executive Director of Aonach Mhacha, a collaborative cultural enterprise initiative in Armagh City. He has worked in the community sector for over twenty-five years and has established a number of worker-owned enterprises. He holds an honours degree in Social Sciences from Queens University Belfast and recently acquired an Advanced Diploma in Social Enterprise from the University of Ulster. Gearoid is an Irish language activist and is deeply involved in the Irish-medium education sector in Armagh. He is an active committee member of the Peadar O'Donnell Socialist Republican Forum and of Friends of the International Brigades in Ireland. Patricia Campbell is from County Tyrone, a nurse by profession and President of the Independent Workers Union. She has presented at international conferences, including the American Psychological Association (APA) and a World Health Organisation (WHO) sponsored conference in Palestine in 2008. A long-term human rights campaigner and trade unionist activist, she was recognised for her lifetime human rights work when awarded the Passion for Peace Award in Philadelphia in 2015. In 2016 she co-authored Marxism and Psychology (ReMarx Publishing) with Susan Rosenthal. In 2017 she presented a groundbreaking paper on the psychology of torture at the renowned Adler Graduate School in Toronto. Brian Garvey is from Armagh in the north of Ireland and now works as a Lecturer at the University of Strathclyde, Scotland, in the Department of Work and Organisation. He was previously an organiser for the Independent Workers Union in Ireland and has been involved with a range of community and labour organisations in Ireland, Scotland and Brazil. He currently represents his branch of the University and College Union.