Two views on real politics: part one – the civic space

Editor’s introduction

Owen Polley and I do not share our politics. Owen is a unionist and I am a republican. Owen is a conservative, though in my opinion he is of a socially liberal bent. I am on the left and a libertarian. In theory, we should agree on nothing, neither politics nor economics, but in today’s depoliticised political sphere where even the old republican-unionist zero sum game has been denuded of meaning we have, from very different positions, come to the conclusion that the only way forward is a complete re-think of how politics is performed.

Owen’s thoughtful essay on the issue runs below. My piece, which is a response to the same question rather than a direct response to Owen, will run shortly. They were intended to run together but yesterday’s technical problems have altered forth‘s publishing schedule for the week.

Jason Walsh,
Editor, forth

The civic space: towards a civic unionism

Jason and I share the conviction that Northern Ireland’s politics ought to focus on civic discourse, if they are to assume a less confrontational, less sectarian shape. My contention is that a province, remaining solidly within the United Kingdom, is best placed to draw upon civic and institutional influences, rather than the cultural preoccupations which currently predominate, precisely because the state is a multi-national construct which makes its appeal primarily on the basis of political allegiance, rather than a perceived monolithic identity. It is incumbent upon unionists to celebrate the diversity of their state and frame their arguments in civic terms, rather than continue to call forth Conor Cruise O’Brien’s ‘ancestral voices’.

The Republic of Ireland has itself become a much more diverse state in the past number of years and its own politics, it might be claimed, have begun to embrace something resembling ‘civic nationalism’. Jason believes that the absorption of Northern Ireland, with its 1 million odd unionists, would complete this process. It is a valid argument, but Britain’s history has been determined by its multi-national character. The academic, Richard Rose, in his monograph ‘Understanding the United Kingdom: The Territorial Dimension in Government’ described the basis of its institutional arrangements as ‘Unity without Uniformity’. By his reasoning, the fact that the UK’s constitution evolved along pragmatic lines, allowed it to develop largely without the prescriptions which mark nations whose institutional apparatus was a manifestation of self-conscious, nationalist ’state building’. The very definition of political ‘Britishness‘, in other words, carries an inbuilt assumption of multiple identities. The same cannot be claimed of political nationalism. 

Of course, the difficulty is that unionism in Northern Ireland has developed its own separate sensibility, in unique conditions, which have included an occasionally violent nationalist challenge and limited involvement in Westminster politics. As a result it has too rarely demonstrated the plurality and permeability of identity which have characterised its Great British cousin. Despite the prevalence of cultural strains of unionism, the civic alternative has persisted to a greater or lesser degree, often struggling for electoral traction. Frequently a broader vision of unionism, attached to a generous sense of Britishness rather than a narrow Ulster Protestant identity, has accompanied efforts to extend political entitlements, taken for granted in the rest of the UK, to Northern Ireland. With devolution placing the north in a less exceptional constitutional position, as regards other ‘nations’ of the United Kingdom, and in the midst of a fresh attempt to involve voters here in the election of the British government, this tendency within unionism has been offered new impetus.

Before examining the practicalities that a revival of civic politics might entail, it is important to describe what we should understand by the term, in the context of the United Kingdom. A civic conception of the UK maintains that cultural identity need not be the primary determinant of political allegiance. It contends that the two concepts, whilst they may be related, can in fact be separated. Civic unionism seeks to champion the cause of political Britishness, across a range of cultures and identities, which it deems perfectly compatible with its precepts. Allegiance to political institutions, and in particular the Westminster parliament, is the chief definer of Britishness, as opposed to possession of a particular cultural identity. Which is not to argue that the existence of Britain, as a political entity, does not carry cultural implications, but rather that there is a different emphasis, and a more flexible approach to culture and identity within a multinational, pluricultural state. One which has not underwent the process of self-definition that characterised nineteenth century nationalisms and the nation states to which they gave birth (the Republic of Ireland for instance).

If the strength of the UK, indeed its very essence, can best be described in terms of its civic politics, unionists in Northern Ireland are diminishing the power of their arguments if they do not frame them in the same terms. They are damaging their own position within the United Kingdom if they fail to put in the practical work to create in our society the civic sensibility which exists in the rest of the state.

But what might this practical work entail?

As I have previously intimated, it is my belief that the framework to create this step change in Northern Irish politics is being built wherever the means are put in place to allow our electorate to play a full role in returning the Westminster government. Without meaningful input into mainstream politics at a national level, the exceptional characteristics of our discourse become exacerbated. By participating in the cut and thrust of the House of Commons on an equal basis Northern Irish MPs are compelled to engage primarily with issues of day to day concern, rather than remaining preoccupied with defending the traditional cultural battlegrounds.  It is a process of normalising Northern Irish ‘Britishness’ in line with a broader understanding of the concept.