Participation, Party Support and Political Attitudes in N. Ireland

Participation, Party Support and Political Attitudes in Northern Ireland
What ‘mandate’ do the parties have from voters at the Assembly election in May 2022? What did each set of party voters think about the Protocol, a united Ireland, and Northern Ireland’s devolved institutions? Why did some people not vote? How do people express, in their own words, their support for the Union or for Irish unity?

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These questions are addressed by three members of the “Northern Ireland Assembly Election Study, 2022”, funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council. Professor John Garry, Dr. Coree Brown Swan and Dr. James Pow, all from The Democracy Unit in Queen’s University Belfast, use evidence from surveys conducted directly after the May 2022 election.

For more details of the project please see: https://www.qub.ac.uk/research-centres/the-democracy-unit/

John Garry is Professor of Political Behaviour at Queen’s University Belfast and leads The Democracy Unit, a research centre established in 2019 focusing on the study of democratic theory, institutions and behaviour. His research interests focus on electoral and deliberative democracy. He is the author of many articles in leading political science journals and his most recent book Consociation and Voting in Northern Ireland’was published by University of Pennsylvania Press. He leads the “Northern Ireland Assembly Election Study, 2022” project, funded by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council”.

Dr. Brown Swan is a Lecturer in Comparative Politics at Queen’s University and her research interests include intergovernmental relations, comparative territorial politics, self-government parties and movements, and qualitative research methods. Key publications include a co-authored report Reforming Intergovernmental Relations in the United Kingdom and Intergovernmental Relations and Parliamentary Scrutiny, prepared for the Devolution (Further Powers) Committee of the Scottish Parliament. She has also published chapters on the currency union and the independence question in the Oxford Handbook of Scottish Politics. Dr. Brown Swan co-organises the Scottish Parliament’s External Experts Panel.

Dr. Jamie Pow is a Lecturer in Political Science at Queen’s University Belfast and his research focuses on the way citizens interact with democratic decision-making, including through elections, mini-publics and referendums. His public opinion research on citizens’ assemblies has been published in multiple international journals. Dr. Pow takes a particular interest in political attitudes and behaviour in Northern Ireland. In 2022 he co-authored a report on public opinion towards institutional reform (with Sean Haughey) and has written a chapter on the politics of Northern Ireland in the Routledge Handbook of British Politics and Society (with Neil Matthews).