Grassroots Activism and Ethnonational Power-Sharing: Lessons from an Irish Language Social Movement in the North of Ireland
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This article examines Irish language activism in Northern Ireland, an understudied yet successful case of grassroots mobilization in the context of a post-conflict consociational democracy. Drawing on in-depth semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis, it analyses how language campaigners navigated and ultimately overcame a range of challenges—civic malaise, consocational vetoes, and elite-driven political culture—to achieve official recognition of their language via historic legislation in 2022. We show how a group of activists developed community spaces and language reclamation infrastructure to cultivate an independent political ecosystem prepared to upset norms of top-down consociational politics. This strategy enabled the movement to decouple from dominant ethnonational elites, broaden support beyond traditional communal boundaries, and exploit the UK’s multi-level governance system through strategic venue-shopping during periods of consociational collapse. By foregrounding the interaction between civic activism, ethnonational identity politics, and power-sharing institutions, the article contributes to scholarship on mobilization in divided societies and offers wider insights for minority language campaigners operating in similar political environments.
Source: Nationalism and Ethnic Politics
Authors: Fionnghuala Nic Roibeaird, Sean Haughey
Institution: University of Liverpool
Language: English
Topic: Irish and British Studies
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funder: Leverhulme Trust
Award: G8182771839
OpenAlex ID: W7165912089