Power-sharing and memory-sharing in Northern Ireland: a case study of Healing Through Remembering during consociational volatility

C. K. Martin Chung*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between the (in)effectiveness of consociationalism and the culture of co-remembrance in Northern Ireland during and between the first and second Executives. It seeks to answer to what extent successes or failures in forming and running a working Executive affected civil society attempts to foster curative remembering between deeply divided communities. Focussing on the ‘memory-power nexus’, the article analyses grassroots initiatives in ‘remembrance work’, the effects the first and second Executives and the interregnum had on them, and their attempts to shape policy in return. Conventional wisdom holds that favourable political conditions are the preconditions for the success of social ‘reconciliation projects’. This study critically reviews this commonly held belief by examining (counter) evidence on the ground, and finds that ‘memory-sharing’ actually and ironically suffered from the perceived success of power-sharing.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)420–438
Number of pages19
JournalBritish Politics
Volume18
Issue number3
Early online date25 May 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2023

Scopus Subject Areas

  • History
  • Political Science and International Relations
  • Sociology and Political Science

User-Defined Keywords

  • Devolution
  • Healing Through Remembering
  • Northern Ireland
  • Politics of memory
  • Truth recovery

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