The recently published book “Consociational Power-Sharing in Northern Ireland: Uncertain Stability” edited by Timofey Agarin and Rupert Taylor explores the state of Northern Ireland’s politics and society more than twenty-five years after the Good Friday Agreement. While acknowledging that the institutional framework has delivered peace and stability, the work argues that ongoing social transformation requires creative engagement with the opportunities envisaged in the Agreement to produce a genuinely shared society and inclusive political order.

At the heart of the book is recognition of a major contradiction between institutional rigidity and social change; such that it presents Northern Ireland with what can be termed its “new problem.” In particular, the book calls for rethinking and reforming consociational arrangements to align with evolving identities and the aspirations of the people these affect. The reasons as to why this is so, what can be done to rectify it, and why such reforms are tremendously difficult to achieve, are central to the arguments that animate this collective work.

Timofey Agarin and Rupert Taylor are hosting the book launch which will be chaired by Stephen Farry (UU). The discussion will engage a number of the contributors to the book who will reflect upon what can be done to progressively advance Northern Ireland's institutional arrangements. Contributors present will include: Joseph Ruane and Jennifer Todd (UCD), Henry Jarrett (Exeter), Andrew Finlay (TCD), Cathal McManus (QUB), Colin Harvey (QUB), Drew MIkhael (QUB), Jamie Pow (QUB), John Garry (QUB), and Robin Wilson (Belfast).

You will find more information about the book here https://www.routledge.com/Consociational-Power-Sharing-in-Northern-Ireland-Uncertain-Stability/Agarin-Taylor/p/book/9781032864952