DOI: 10.5255/ukda-sn-9168-1
title: Beyond Unionism and Nationalism in Northern Ireland: Electors, Voters and Party Members, 2022

description: &lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250);"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.6px;"&gt;Politics in Northern Ireland has always been framed upon unionist versus nationalist divisions. Power-sharing between unionists and nationalists is mandatory in the devolved Executive and Assembly. Yet, according to the&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt; Northern Ireland General Election Survey, 2019 (available from the UK Data Archive under SN 8619)&lt;/span&gt;, 40% of Northern Ireland's electors say they are neither unionist nor nationalist, compared to only 27% identifying as unionist and 25% as nationalist.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250);"&gt;&lt;span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.6px;"&gt;Despite this, remarkably little is known about those 'neithers', in terms of who they are, why they reject unionism and nationalism, their reasons for voting or abstaining, and the depth of their backing for non-unionist and non-nationalist parties. This project aimed to rectify these knowledge gaps by surveying those electors who identify as neither unionist nor nationalist and undertaking a membership study of the main representatives of the non-aligned grouping, the Alliance Party, the only non-aligned party represented in Northern Ireland's government. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250);"&gt;The project involved an extensive demographic and attitudinal survey of a) electors declaring they are neither unionist or nationalist, to understand their background and their rationale and b) to examine the views of those committed to the rejection of unionism and nationalism within the largest party, Alliance, not aligned to either unionism or nationalism, via a survey of the entire party membership to which the party has agreed. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;By analysing the demography and
views of non-voters, voters and party members who eschew unionism and
nationalism, the project&lt;span style="color: rgb(68, 114, 196);"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;will
achieve a far better understanding of Northern Ireland's understudied third
tradition, numerically its largest but the least researched. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The project analysed several different types of elector rejecting unionism and nationalism&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-indent: -18pt;"&gt;a)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-indent: -18pt; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"&gt;      
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-indent: -18pt;"&gt;the non-voter who refused&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-indent: -18pt;"&gt; to participate in the electoral system because of that rejection;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-indent: -18pt;"&gt;b)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-indent: -18pt; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"&gt;     
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-indent: -18pt;"&gt;the voter who supported&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-indent: -18pt;"&gt; Alliance, or other smaller non-unionist/non-nationalist parties, e.g. the
Greens, because they are neither unionist or nationalist and/or because they
back the policies of that particular party;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-indent: -18pt;"&gt;c)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-indent: -18pt; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"&gt;      
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-indent: -18pt;"&gt;the non-unionist and non-nationalist voter who
nonetheless voted&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-indent: -18pt;"&gt; for a unionist or
nationalist party for various reasons, such as tactical or lower preference
voting&lt;span style="color: rgb(68, 114, 196);"&gt;;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="text-indent: -18pt;"&gt;d)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-indent: -18pt; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-feature-settings: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-family: &quot;Times New Roman&quot;;"&gt;     
&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="text-indent: -18pt;"&gt;the committed rejectionists of the existing
unionist v nationalist binary within Alliance's membership, assessing how the
party attempts to either i) accommodate compromises between unionists and
nationalists or ii) overcome Northern Ireland's divisions iii) understand what
ethnic-blind policies, to diminish sectarian divisions, are backed by party
members. Further information is available on the&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(68, 114, 196);"&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href="https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FV014072%2F1" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"&gt;&lt;span style="color:#4472C4"&gt;UK Research and Innovation&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style="color: rgb(68, 114, 196);"&gt; project webpage.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;