Isabel Bramsen
Docent | Ämnesföreståndare Freds- och konfliktvetenskap
Agonistic interaction in practice : laughing, dissensus and hegemony in the Northern Ireland Assembly
Författare
Summary, in English
The 1998 Agreement in Northern Ireland has often been portrayed as a textbook example of agonistic peace allowing parties to continue conflict in a political, adversarial manner post accord. Here, I investigate the institutional and dialogical reality of this claim by scrutinising agonistic aspects of interaction occurring in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Specifically, I analyse a video recording of the first sitting after the Assembly did not sit between 2017 and 2020. The debate provides a snapshot of the situation in Northern Ireland and gives insights into what agonistic interaction looks like in practice. The meeting reveals mutual acceptance of radically different identities and perceptions of the past as well as a jovial mode of interaction with elements of self-irony displaying an ability to hold identities and positions lightly. However, the room for counter-hegemonic discourses and passionate, intense contestation about difficult issues is very limited at the meeting. Rather, the Assembly shapes up as a theatre of opposition where Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party perform opposition while forming a new hegemony. Taking the opening debate as a point of departure, I discuss questions regarding inclusion, passionate debate and hegemony that the Northern Irish case poses for agonistic peace.
Avdelning/ar
- Statsvetenskapliga institutionen
Publiceringsår
2022
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
1324-1342
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Third World Quarterly
Volym
43
Issue
6
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
Taylor & Francis
Ämne
- Political Science
Nyckelord
- agonistic peace
- dialogue
- humour
- identity
- Northern Ireland
- video data analysis
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 0143-6597