Introduction

This book aims to provide a detailed understanding of a centrist political party which stands outside Northern Ireland’s two ethno-national blocs. The Alliance Party offers an approach to politics which rejects ethnic divisions and fractures on a constitutional question as the cornerstones of political life. This volume assesses the extent of Alliance’s distinctiveness and radicalism in the alternative politics of non-unionism and non-nationalism offered by the Party. Our research analyses the evolution of Alliance during conflict and beyond, its overarching political mission, how it operates in a polity framed on management of an ethnic divide, and who belongs to Alliance and why. The book charts the Party’s electoral fortunes and assesses the contributions of Alliance to tackling divisions. The story of the non-ethnically aligned centre ground and its main civic party is one still to be told amid the understandable focus on binary rivalry in Northern Ireland. We hope that this book provides some of the telling.

Politics in Northern Ireland has always been framed upon unionist versus nationalist divisions. Yet there is plenty of evidence that this framing does not fully represent the outlook of the region’s electors. Averaging across the Northern Ireland 2019 General Election study (Tonge 2020a), the Northern Ireland Life and Times (2022) survey, and the Northern Ireland 2022 Assembly Election study (Garry et al. 2023), 39 per cent of Northern Ireland’s electors say they are neither unionist nor nationalist. This makes the ‘neithers’ the largest single category of elector, compared to only 30 per cent identifying as unionist and 26 per cent as nationalist. At the time of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA), Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace and political deal, unionists and nationalists combined formed almost two-thirds of the electorate, with ‘neithers’ amounting to only one-third. Unionists and nationalists combined still outnumber those saying they are ‘neither’ but the gap has closed. Northern Ireland comprises three distinct minorities, not a political binary, but scholarship has yet to catch up.

The main political party representing those identifying as neither unionist nor nationalist is the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, founded amid the unpromising backdrop of the onset of conflict in 1970. In common with the pool of ‘neither’ electors, Alliance has risen in popularity in recent years. Rejecting traditional ideologies and claiming neutrality on Northern Ireland’s constitutional future, Alliance has seen marked increases in its vote shares and representation. The Party’s vote rose by eleven and nine percentage points to record highs in the 2019 European and Westminster elections, respectively, gaining seats in both polls. Alliance then achieved its highest ever vote share and seat tally for a Northern Ireland Assembly election in 2022, more than doubling its number of elected members (MLAs) to seventeen. The 2023 Northern Ireland local elections saw a 26 per cent increase in Alliance council seats. For many years Northern Ireland’s fifth most popular party, Alliance now lies third, behind only Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party.

That non-unionist and non-nationalist identifications—and a party representing the non-aligned—have risen is significant, but Northern Ireland is still a polity framed upon a unionist versus nationalist binary. The essence of the Good Friday Agreement is conflict management between two rival communities, broadly, if not entirely interchangeably, Protestant Unionist British versus Catholic Irish Nationalist. The 1998 deal equalized those main two traditions, offering parity of esteem and equality of legitimacy, but it did not ensure their rapprochement.

Little attention has been paid to electors or parties beyond those traditions. Within the Northern Ireland Assembly, representatives are obliged to designate as unionist, nationalist, or simply ‘other’. Despite the increase in electors repudiating the unionist and nationalist traditions, and amid the growth of Alliance, little is known about those ‘other’ electors or the largest party attempting to represent them. The centre ground was dismissed as very narrow (Arthur and Jeffery 1996). There has been no book-length academic study of Alliance, only a solitary volume from an activist (Eggins 2015) and merely six dedicated journal articles (McAllister and Wilson 1978; Tonge and Evans 2001; Evans and Tonge 2003; Jarrett 2016; Mitchell 2018; Tonge 2020b). A small number of articles highlighting the growth of the middle ground have recently emerged (e.g. Hayward and McManus 2019; Murphy 2023). The dearth of material highlights a wider research problem: that of the focus on divided societies being concentrated overwhelmingly upon their ethnic groups. Given its size, the non-unionist and non-nationalist bloc in Northern Ireland merits greater attention. The extent of the ‘neither’ category may matter in terms of reshaping political institutions created under the Good Friday Agreement or in determining the outcome of a referendum on the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. We know how most unionists and nationalists will vote in a border poll. The ‘swing’ voters are those in the ‘neither’ bloc.

In consociational, segmented democracies like Northern Ireland, civic centrist parties beyond the competing ethnic blocs are commonly viewed as tangential. Consociationalism regulates essentialist competitive identities (e.g. Lijphart 1977; McGarry and O’Leary 2004; Taylor 2009). Liberal consociations do not preclude alternative cleavages, but the possibilities for centripetal non-ethnic parties promoting an integrated society may be limited (e.g. Horowitz 2000; Wilford and Wilson 2003; O’Flynn 2010, 2013; Wilford 2010; Nagle and Clancy 2012). Ethnic parties tend to be more popular than non-ethnic ones, and rules are framed around assumptions of a perpetual ethnic divide and the need for its regulation. Civic parties may be elected to institutions and can even join government, but it does not matter, in terms of system maintenance, if they are incapable of reaching such heights, whereas the absence of a particular ethnic group or party may collapse the apparatus.

The rules of the political game incorporate state ‘licencing’ of ethnic bloc power-sharing. Two communities cooperate at elite level, but with each set of elected representatives holding vetoes to thwart their rival if needed. Acknowledgement of centrist voters and parties beyond the bloc divide tends to be modest, with significant barriers for non-ethnic voters and parties. Conflictual ethnic groups are the recognized units, with representation guaranteed for those blocs under mandatory power-sharing. For voters and parties promoting individual, not group, rights and backing inter-ethnic bridging rather than ethnic solidarity, there are no guarantees of entry to the political game. To alter institutional dynamics, it is necessary to grow electorally to the point where challenge to the logic of ethnic bloc rule-setting is then possible. The assumption underpinning consociational dispensations is that integration is a path-dependent process in which citizens come to appreciate elite-level cooperative power-sharing, taking cues from the political parties. Consociationalists assume that successful power-sharing between ethnic parties thaws divides. Integrationists want civic parties to lead a charge in not just thawing enmity but reconciling society. Consociationalists defend their position as realism; integrationists argue that challenging the perpetuation of division is not utopian fantasy.

Not aligned to either ethno-national bloc, Alliance is classified as an ‘other’ party in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Alliance supports the Good Friday Agreement consociation as a political deal necessary for the sake of peace, but seeks substantial reforms to make representative institutions ethnic-blind. The party uses the label ‘united community’ as its self-descriptive designation and opposes communal registrations, whether unionist, nationalist, or ‘other’. For the many electors who say they are ‘others’ or ‘neithers’, in that they do not self-identify as unionist or nationalist, there are three choices. One is to disengage from the binary system, hold little interest in politics and refuse to vote—and, indeed, such traits are common in those eschewing unionism and nationalism.¹ The second option is to come to an accommodation with the ethno-centric nature of the polity and vote for ethnic parties regardless, perhaps favouring moderate representatives. The third possibility is for non-bloc voters to adopt a transformational approach, repudiate unionism and nationalism, and reject politics based upon ethno-national rights and constitutional issues, instead highlighting instead alternative identities and social rights. It is this section of the electorate whose votes Alliance aspires to gather and from which the Party draws much of its membership. Recent years have seen Alliance begin to thrive in terms of growth in support and members. Finally, it appears that a party of the centre ground has attained electoral and political significance as Northern Irish society changes and old divisions, whilst still apparent, are not necessarily the defining feature of many lives.

The purpose of this volume is to facilitate greater understanding of how a party beyond the unionist and nationalist blocs constitutes a distinctive third tradition. How does Alliance challenge ethno-national and ethno-religious sectarian divisions? What is Alliance’s biggest appeal to electors in rejecting the unionist–nationalist dichotomy? Is it a distinctive ideology, or disillusionment with unionist or nationalist parties, or rejection of political institutions which legitimize division? We aim to enhance knowledge of what a party beyond the traditional sectarian divide is attempting. Alliance can act as a political umbrella, offering shelter from what it sees as the worst excesses of unionism and nationalism, or it can try to create a much more distinctive radical third tradition, based upon individualism and liberalism rather than group rights and ethnic identity politics.

We address the information gaps on Northern Ireland’s centre party by examining its history, ideology, politics, religious composition, electoral fortunes, identities, and demography. We need to discover what holding a non-unionist and non-nationalist ideology means to Alliance members and how they envisage their party overcoming sectarian divisions and reconciling Northern Ireland’s divided communities. We examine why Alliance members reject parties associated with near-exclusive national and religious affiliations. We explore whether it is mainly rejection of the ethno-national ideologies of unionism or nationalism that motivates Alliance members, or positive support for clear alternative ideas. The book assesses what the membership wants from their party: a multi-ethnic accommodationist appealing across sectarian divides by acting as a bridge across a chasm, or an integrationist civic party, rejecting existing political structures and attempting to supplant unionism and nationalism. To fulfil these aims, the book poses several core questions:

To address these questions, the book utilizes extensive quantitative and qualitative research. The main quantitative element of the project was a study of the Alliance Party membership conducted from October 2020 to March 2022. A detailed questionnaire was sent to each party member, covering political and social attitudes as well as demographic profiling. A reminder questionnaire was sent to each member. In total, 806 replies were received, a response rate of 62 per cent based on the 1,300 membership figure reported by party leader Naomi Long in March 2022, who noted that this figure included 300 new recruits over the previous twelve months (numbers have continued to increase) (Belfast Telegraph 2022a, 4 March). The data was independently coded by Social Market Research Belfast. In addition to demographics, the questionnaire covered reasons for joining, political attitudes, views on institutions, attitudes to unionist and nationalist parties, priorities for societal change, social issues, and constitutional perspectives. Members were given a choice of receiving the questionnaire electronically or by post, with the survey sent directly to each member by the party to preserve the confidentiality of the membership database. Using a multi-method approach was important in terms of the representativeness of replies. Whilst the vast majority of party members aged under sixty-five preferred to complete the questionnaire electronically, some older members preferred to complete a paper copy. Electronic data was transmitted to the researchers. Hard copies were returned by post in a pre-paid envelope to party headquarters for collection (unopened) by the researchers.

Whilst the questionnaire-based membership survey forms the vast bulk of the quantitative data contained in this book, we occasionally refer to a broader survey also undertaken by the authors in 2022 as part of the same ESRC Beyond Unionism and Nationalism project. This involved face-to-face computer-assisted personal interviews with 2,056 electors self-identifying as ‘neither unionist nor nationalist’, from a preliminary screening interview of 5,000 electors. Social Market Research Belfast carried out the fieldwork between April and September, using stratified samples based upon age, sex, social class, and area (Westminster parliamentary constituency) on a probability-proportionate-to-size basis; 144 electoral wards, (8 per constituency) were used. The initial screening interview asked whether a respondent considered themselves a) unionist, b) nationalist, or c) ‘neither unionist nor nationalist’, before proceeding to a much more detailed questionnaire-based interview with those identifying as ‘neither’. This detailed interview asked respondents why they rejected unionist and nationalist self-identification, ascertained their views of political parties and institutions, collated views on tackling societal divisions, and yielded demographic profiles of electors beyond the two main traditions. We also draw upon various other data, mainly recent ESRC Westminster election (Tonge 2015, 2017, 2020) and Northern Ireland Assembly election studies (Garry et al. 2023). We also utilize annual Northern Ireland Life and Times survey data to track changes in attitudes since the Good Friday Agreement.

The quantitative study was complemented by fieldwork of semi-structured interviews with fifty-eight Alliance Party members in various party roles, including the party leader, all surviving former leaders, each of the seventeen MLAs, and approximately one-third of councillors. In addition, we conducted six focus groups of members: students, LGBTQ+, women, western branches, other branches, and a Belfast group, to ascertain views across various sections of Alliance. All quotations used in the book are taken from these interviews and focus groups, unless otherwise referenced. The list of interviewees and focus groups and the dates on which they were conducted is found at the rear of the volume. The project also utilized archival material, mainly the Alliance Party online archive, plus documents located within the Northern Ireland Political Collection based in the Linen Hall Library in Belfast and items in the Public Records Office Northern Ireland (PRONI).

The book begins with a historical section stretching across four chapters, covering the main events in Alliance’s evolution, from its foundation to recent times, before considering specific features of the contemporary party. The historical chapters are mostly top-down, analysing events mainly from the prism of the party leadership. Subsequent chapters examining Alliance today are much more bottom-up, giving voice to the politics of the modern party membership.

The history section commences with an analysis of Alliance’s emergence from the New Ulster Movement at the beginning of the 1970s, assessing the Party’s founding principles and exploring its early promise, despite the backdrop of an emergent conflict. Oliver Napier’s stewardship of Alliance is examined, particularly in relation to the Party’s participation in the ill-fated Sunningdale Agreement power-sharing executive. The subsequent political vacuum and Alliance’s role in the ultimately unsuccessful rolling devolution experiment of the 1980s are also considered. John Cushnahan’s mid-1980s leadership of Alliance and the significance of the Party’s support for the Anglo-Irish Agreement under him are analysed in depth. We then assess John Alderdice’s leadership and role in the Good Friday Agreement. The 1998 peace and power-sharing deal offered Alliance much of what it wanted, but its framing upon a binary divide was at odds with the Party’s integrationist ideology. The remainder of the historical section covers the stages of crisis, recovery, and upsurge of Alliance since the Good Friday Agreement under the leaderships of Sean Neeson, David Ford, and Naomi Long.

Subsequent chapters move from a chronological to a thematic approach, covering different aspects of Alliance. Chapter 5 assesses the Party’s ideology and integrationist ideas and examines whether Alliance’s main role is as a bridge-builder between unionism and nationalism or a usurper of both those ideologies. Chapter 6 covers Alliance’s views on a question by which the Party refuses to be defined: the constitution. Do members prefer Northern Ireland in the UK, favour a United Ireland, or do they not care? Do they want a border poll? Chapter 7 analyses who those members are, in terms of their demographics, explores the geography of membership, and examines their motivations for being in Alliance. Electoral fortunes, strong in the 1970s and recent years but modest in between, are assessed in Chapter 8. Unusually for a Northern Ireland party, Alliance has always contained members from different national backgrounds, and its mixture of identities is analysed in Chapter 9. Chapter 10 evaluates the religious and non-religious mix within Alliance and analyses relationships between religiosity and attitudes on some social issues, including integrated education and abortion. Chapter 11 considers internal issues of diversity and representation within the Party beyond national self-identification. Finally, Alliance’s agenda for the future, in reforming institutions and tackling sectarianism, is evaluated in terms of content and prospects in Chapter 12.