Unionist party competition and the Orange Order vote in Northern Ireland

Evans, JA; Tonge, J

Abstract

The period since the signing of Northern Ireland's ‘peace deal’, the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA), has seen a shift in the votes of many Protestants to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), hitherto seen as a hardline, anti-GFA organisation fusing religion and politics. This article uses a case study of the Orange Order, the largest religious-cultural organisation in Northern Ireland containing almost one-in-four Protestant voters, to examine the basis of the appeal of more militant Protestant Unionism in the DUP. The article suggests that a radical ethnic militancy is apparent amongst younger ‘Orange’ Protestants in particular. This shift in Protestant-Unionist opinion has been exacerbated in a post-conflict party system, in which electoral competition is based upon intra-ethnic bloc rivalry around the defence of the interests of a particular bloc.

Citation

Evans, J., & Tonge, J. (2007). Unionist party competition and the Orange Order vote in Northern Ireland. Electoral Studies, 26(1), 156-167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2006.01.006

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Mar 1, 2007
• Deposit Date: Jan 21, 2009
• Journal: Electoral Studies
• Print ISSN: 0261-3794
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 26
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 156-167
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2006.01.006
• Keywords: Vote transfers, religion, conservatism, militancy, protestantism
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2006.01.006