Reforming politics

Abstract

Abstract Alliance argues strongly that the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly created by the Good Friday Agreement are in urgent need of reform. These institutions were collapsed for nearly 40 per cent of the first twenty-five years of their existence. In Alliance’s view, the institutionalization of vetoes needs to end, as does an Assembly voting system which gives Alliance votes worth less than unionist or nationalist parties. This chapter considers Alliance’s reform agenda. It includes making the institutions more collapse-proof; reducing veto rights; co-badging the offices of First and deputy First Minister; ending the system of communal designation by which Assembly members are obliged to designate as unionist, nationalist, or the reductionist ‘other’; and replacing it with a voting system based on weighted majorities. The rationale behind Alliance’s thinking is critically evaluated. The chapter also considers Alliance’s proposals for tackling sectarianism in terms of realism and timescale.