The environment as a second policy dimension in a deeply divided society: The politics of Northern Ireland’s Lough Neagh crisis
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Environmental concerns are often marginalised in post-conflict societies. Especially under power-sharing, political parties tend to prioritise their ethno-national electoral segments’ interests, rather than co-operating across divides, reducing cross-cutting concerns to a secondary policy dimension and compromising joint policy-making. Even given inauspicious institutional incentives, however, shared priorities can encourage mass co-operation. This article analyses Northern Ireland parties’ responses to an ecological crisis at Lough Neagh, showing how they commit to its resolution rhetorically, while continuing to prioritise the interests of their distinct ethno-national segments. We demonstrate that segmental parties’ concern for the crisis is instrumental, with the second dimension of environmental policies acting primarily to serve existing interests and to crystalise political identities, compromising the policy response. These parties have outsourced responsibility for the issue of Lough Neagh to a cross-segmental party, and in so doing, we argue, have set it up to fail at the task of addressing the crisis.
Authors: Timofey Agarin, Laurence Cooley, Elliott Hill
Institutions: Queen's University Belfast, University of Birmingham
Language: English
Topic: Irish and British Studies
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,650
Funder: University of Birmingham
OpenAlex ID: W4416607998