Diritto Pubblico Comparato ed Europeo

Sommario

1. Premessa. – 2. Una “società divisa”. – 2.1. Profilo di storia costituzionale dell’Irlanda del Nord. – 2.2. Rappresentanza politica e forma di stato dal 1921 al 1972. – 2.3. Il modello di “democrazia consociativa”. – 3. Il Good Friday Agreement e il Northern Ireland Act del 1998. – 3.1. Gli elementi consociativi. – 3.2. Il “consent principle”. – 3.3. L’Assembly. – 3.4. Le Executive Authorities. – 4. La questione del “decommissioning illegal arms” e la difficile vita delle nuove istituzioni. – 5. Conclusioni.

AbstractThis article is focused on the life of the power-sharing institutions embodied in the Northern Ireland “Good Friday Agreement” of April 1998. Firstly, we explain the reasons for the adoption of a shared system of government in Northern Ireland i.e. the failure of the Westminster model (adopted in the region from 1920 to 1972) to deal with socio-economical discrimination of the Catholic-Nationalist population. Second, we describe the complex institutional architecture that gives to the Protestant-Unionist parties, as well as to the Catholic-Nationalist ones, an equal opportunity to participate in a coalition government. Third, we deal with the recurrent political crises that have occurred from 1999 to today, causing repeated suspensions of the new Northern Ireland institutional settlement. We try to underline that these difficulties in the implementation of the Agreement are due not so much to the slow “decommissioning of illegal arms” process by the paramilitary groups, but rather to the extremist-unionists dislike towards the power-sharing institutions, a dislike which is progressively extending to the moderate-unionist electorate.