The Northern Ireland Assembly
How power-sharing governance works in Northern Ireland, why the Assembly keeps collapsing, and the unique constitutional arrangements born from the peace process.
Power-Sharing by Design
The Good Friday Agreement of 1998 created a devolved government in Northern Ireland built on mandatory power-sharing between the unionist community (which wants to remain in the UK) and the nationalist community (which aspires to Irish unification). The Assembly uses the single transferable vote to ensure proportional representation, and the Executive must include ministers from both communities.
The First Minister and deputy First Minister hold equal power and must come from opposite sides of the community divide. If either resigns, the Executive falls. Key decisions require 'cross-community consent,' meaning a majority of both unionist and nationalist Assembly members must agree. This consociational design was intended to prevent either community from dominating the other, but it also gives each side an effective veto over governance.