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96-723: Inactive Defunct Republican News was a longstanding newspaper/magazine published by Sinn Féin . Following the split in physical force Irish republicanism in the late 1960s between the Officials (Official Sinn Féin — also known as Sinn Féin Gardiner Place — and the Official IRA) and the Provisionals (Provisional Sinn Féin — also known as Sinn Féin Kevin Street and now most commonly simply as Sinn Féin — and

192-571: A "Coalition Panel" of Sinn Féin candidates to stand in the 1922 general election . After the election, anti-Treaty members walked out of the Dáil, and pro- and anti-Treaty members took opposite sides in the ensuing Civil War . Pro-Treaty Dáil deputies and other Treaty supporters formed a new party, Cumann na nGaedheal , on 27 April 1923 at a meeting in Dublin, where delegates agreed on a constitution and political programme. Cumann na nGaedheal went on to govern

288-470: A (minor) political party in its own right. On 2 September 2006, Martin McGuinness publicly stated that Sinn Féin would refuse to participate in a shadow assembly at Stormont, asserting that his party would only take part in negotiations that were aimed at restoring a power-sharing government. This development followed a decision on the part of members of Sinn Féin to refrain from participating in debates since

384-468: A Caretaker Executive with Ruairí Ó Brádaigh as chairman. The Caretaker Executive's first act was to pass a resolution pledging allegiance to the 32-county Irish Republic and the Provisional Army Council. It also declared itself opposed to the ending of abstentionism, the drift towards "extreme forms of socialism", the failure of the leadership to defend the nationalist people of Belfast during

480-563: A ballot paper in this hand and an Armalite in the other, we take power in Ireland? This was the origin of what became known as the Armalite and ballot box strategy . Ó Brádaigh's chief policy, a plan for a federalised Irish state dubbed Éire Nua , was dropped in 1982, and the following year Ó Brádaigh stepped down as president, and was replaced by Adams. Under Adams' leadership electoral politics became increasingly important. In 1983 Alex Maskey

576-562: A ceasefire in August 1994. Sinn Féin then joined the talks, but the Conservative government under John Major soon came to depend on unionist votes to remain in power. It suspended Sinn Féin from the talks, and began to insist that the IRA decommission all of their weapons before Sinn Féin be re-admitted to the talks; this led to the IRA calling off its ceasefire. The new Labour government of Tony Blair

672-698: A claim disputed by the British government. Donaldson was found fatally shot in his home in County Donegal on 4 April 2006, and a murder inquiry was launched. In April 2009, the Real IRA released a statement taking responsibility for the killing. When Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) became the largest parties, by the terms of the Good Friday Agreement no deal could be made without

768-458: A consensus of representatives with minority veto, while consensus democracy requires consensus across the electorate. The idea has received significant criticism in its applicability to democratic political systems, especially with regard to power-sharing. Consociation was first discussed in the 17th century New England Confederation . It described the interassociation and cooperation of the participant self-governing Congregational churches of

864-647: A consociational basis, including Belgium , Italy , Cyprus (effective 1960–1963), the First Czechoslovak Republic , Israel , Lebanon , the Netherlands (1917–1967), Northern Ireland , Switzerland (consultation mostly across ideological lines), Ethiopia , Zimbabwe-Rhodesia , and South Africa . Some academics have also argued that the European Union resembles a consociational democracy, with consultation across ideological lines. Additionally,

960-542: A multi- system with strong leaders. This philosophy is dominated by elites, with those masses that are sidelined with the elites having less to lose if war breaks out. Consociationalism cannot be imperially applied. For example, it does not effectively apply to Austria . Critics also point to the failure of this line of reasoning in Lebanon , a country that reverted to civil war. It only truly applies in Switzerland , Belgium and

1056-620: A number of "favourable conditions" under which consociationalism is likely to be successful. He has changed the specification of these conditions somewhat over time. Michael Kerr summarised Lijphart's most prominent favourable factors as: Lijphart stresses that these conditions are neither indispensable nor sufficient to account for the success of consociationalism. This has led Rinus van Schendelen to conclude that "the conditions may be present and absent, necessary and unnecessary, in short conditions or no conditions at all". John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary argue that three conditions are key to

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1152-537: A number of peace agreements are consociational, including: The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan 's political system was also described as consociational, although it lacked ethnic quotas. In addition to the two-state solution to solve the Arab–Israeli conflict , some have argued for a one-state solution under a consociational democracy in the state of Israel , but this solution is not very popular, nor has it been discussed seriously at peace negotiations. During

1248-464: A protest movement after the introduction of internment in August 1971, organising marches and pickets. The party launched its platform, Éire Nua ("a New Ireland") at the 1971 Ard Fheis . In general, however, the party lacked a distinct political philosophy. In the words of Brian Feeney, "Ó Brádaigh would use Sinn Féin ard fheiseanna (party conferences) to announce republican policy, which was, in effect, IRA policy, namely that Britain should leave

1344-401: A reappraisal of the policy of abstention from the Dáil. At the 1983 Ard Fheis the constitution was amended to remove the ban on the discussion of abstentionism to allow Sinn Féin to run a candidate in the forthcoming European elections. However, in his address, Adams said, "We are an abstentionist party. It is not my intention to advocate change in this situation." A motion to permit entry into

1440-452: A referendum on Irish unification. This information did not become publicly known until 2022 and the move was criticised in some quarters on the basis that it would be wrong for Sinn Féin to work with dissident republican groups which do not repudiate violence by paramilitaries. Sinn Féin retorted that engaging with dissident republicans draws them into the democratic process and political solutions instead of violent ones. Sinn Féin won 29% of

1536-444: A stance later reiterated by McDonald as a way of resolving the border issues raised by Brexit . Sinn Féin's first elections under McDonald resulted in the party performing well under its own expectations during the 2018 Irish presidential election that October, and similarly, the party's performance was labelled "disastrous" during the concurrent May 2019 European Parliament election in Ireland and 2019 Irish local elections . In

1632-598: A term intended as a pejorative . Sinn Féin was founded on 28 November 1905, when, at the first annual Convention of the National Council, Arthur Griffith outlined the Sinn Féin policy, "to establish in Ireland's capital a national legislature endowed with the moral authority of the Irish nation". Its initial political platform was both conservative and monarchist , advocating for an Anglo-Irish dual monarchy unified with

1728-421: Is a more realistic option in deeply divided societies than integrationist approaches to conflict management . Many criticisms have been levelled against the deployment of consociationalism in state-building. It has been criticised as institutionalising and deepening existing divisions, being severely dependent on external support for survival, and temporarily freezing conflicts but not resolving them. Given

1824-628: Is an assertion of Irish national sovereignty and self-determination, i.e., the Irish people governing themselves, rather than being part of a political union with Great Britain under the Westminster Parliament . A split in January 1970, mirroring a split in the IRA, led to the emergence of two groups calling themselves Sinn Féin. One, under the continued leadership of Tomás Mac Giolla , became known as "Sinn Féin (Gardiner Place)", or "Official Sinn Féin";

1920-402: Is designed in a way that strengthens regional parties, which in turn encourage ethnic conflict. James Anderson also supports Horowitz's contention that consociational powersharing built around diverging identities can entrench and sharpen these divisions. Citing the example of Northern Ireland , Anderson argues such approaches tend to "prioritise the same general type of territorial identity as

2016-457: Is meant to prevent. Brian Barry has questioned the nature of the divisions that exist in the countries that Lijphart considers to be "classic cases" of consociational democracies. For example, he makes the case that in the Swiss example, "political parties cross-cut cleavages in the society and provide a picture of remarkable consensus rather than highly structured conflict of goals". In the case of

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2112-512: Is sometimes seen as analogous to corporatism . Some scholars consider consociationalism a form of corporatism. Others claim that economic corporatism was designed to regulate class conflict , while consociationalism developed on the basis of reconciling societal fragmentation along ethnic and religious lines. Concurrent majority can be a precursor to consociationalism. A consociational democracy differs from consensus democracy (e.g. in Switzerland ), in that consociational democracy represents

2208-452: Is the main opposition, having won the largest share of first-preference votes in the 2020 election . The current president of Sinn Féin is Mary Lou McDonald , who succeeded Gerry Adams in 2018. The phrase "Sinn Féin" is Irish for "Ourselves" or "We Ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone" (from " Sinn Féin Amháin ", an early-20th-century slogan). The name

2304-587: The 1969 Northern Ireland riots , and the expulsion of traditional republicans by the leadership during the 1960s. At its October 1970 Ard Fheis , delegates were informed that an IRA convention had been held and had regularised its structure, bringing to an end the "provisional" period. By then, however, the label "Provisional" or "Provo" was already being applied to them by the media. The opposing, anti-abstentionist party became known as "Official Sinn Féin". It changed its name in 1977 to "Sinn Féin—The Workers' Party", and in 1982 to " The Workers' Party ". Because

2400-682: The 2020 Irish general election , Sinn Féin received the greatest number of first preference votes nationally, making it the best result for any incarnation of Sinn Féin since the 1922 election . Fianna Fáil , Fine Gael and the Green Party formed a coalition government in June 2020. Although second on seats won at the election, Sinn Féin became the largest party in the Dáil when Marc MacSharry resigned from Fianna Fáil in September 2021, which, with Seán Ó Fearghaíl sitting as Ceann Comhairle , left Sinn Féin

2496-508: The 2023 Northern Ireland local elections , Sinn Féin became the largest party in local government for the first time. Then, in the local elections in the Republic of Ireland in 2024 , Sinn Féin increased their vote share, however, significantly fell short of the polls, showcasing a divide between the party's leadership and grassroots over immigration, with disgruntled Sinn Féin voters voting instead for small right-wing parties. However, following

2592-648: The 2024 United Kingdom general election , Sinn Féin became the single largest party representing Northern Ireland in Westminster. Sinn Féin is the largest Irish republican political party, and was historically associated with the Irish Republican Army , while also having been associated with the Provisional Irish Republican Army in the party's modern incarnation. The Irish government alleged that senior members of Sinn Féin have held posts on

2688-522: The IRA Army Council . However, the SF leadership has denied these claims. Consociationalism The goals of consociationalism are governmental stability, the survival of the power-sharing arrangements, the survival of democracy , and the avoidance of violence . When consociationalism is organised along religious confessional lines, as in Lebanon , it is known as confessionalism . Consociationalism

2784-703: The Republican Network for Unity . Sinn Féin supported a no vote in the referendum on the Twenty-eighth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2008 . Immediately after the June 2017 UK general election , where the Conservatives won 49% of seats but not an overall majority, so that non-mainstream parties could have significant influence, Gerry Adams announced for Sinn Féin that their elected MPs would continue

2880-646: The St Andrews Agreement and agreed to support the Police Service of Northern Ireland . Sinn Féin is the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, having won the largest share of first-preference votes and the most seats in the 2022 election , the first time an Irish nationalist party has done so. Since 2024, Michelle O'Neill has served as the first ever Irish nationalist First Minister of Northern Ireland . From 2007 to 2022, Sinn Féin

2976-794: The United Kingdom House of Commons . However, in line with Sinn Féin abstentionist policy, she did not take her seat in the House of Commons. The party supported the Irish Republican Army during the War of Independence , and members of the Dáil government negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty with the British government in 1921. In the Dáil debates that followed, the party divided on the Treaty. The pro-Treaty and anti-Treaty components (led by Michael Collins and Éamon de Valera respectively) managed to agree on

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3072-460: The first-preference votes in the 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election , the highest share of any party. With 27 out of 90 seats, they became the largest party in Stormont for the first time ever. "Today ushers in a new era", O'Neill said shortly before the final results were announced. "Irrespective of religious, political or social backgrounds, my commitment is to make politics work." Following

3168-588: The "Provisionals" were committed to military rather than political action, Sinn Féin's initial membership was largely confined, in Danny Morrison 's words, to men "over military age or women". A Sinn Féin organiser of the time in Belfast described the party's role as "agitation and publicity" New cumainn (branches) were established in Belfast, and a new newspaper, Republican News , was published. Sinn Féin took off as

3264-458: The 1950s, cross-denominational co-operation was increasing, and formerly coherent political sub-cultures were dissolving. He argued that elites in the Netherlands were not motivated by preferences derived from the general interest, but rather by self-interest. They formed coalitions not to forge consociational negotiation between segments but to improve their parties' respective power. He argued that

3360-584: The 1980s the South African government attempted to reform apartheid into a consociational democracy. The South African Constitution of 1983 applied Lijphart's powersharing ideas by establishing a Tricameral Parliament . During the 1990s negotiations to end apartheid the National Party (NP) and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) proposed a settlement based upon consociationalism. The African National Congress (ANC) opposed consociationalism and proposed instead

3456-715: The Assembly's recall the previous May. The relevant parties to these talks were given a deadline of 24 November 2006 to decide upon whether or not they would ultimately form the executive. The 86-year Sinn Féin boycott of policing in Northern Ireland ended on 28 January 2007, when the Ard Fheis voted overwhelmingly to support the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). Sinn Féin members began to sit on Policing Boards and join District Policing Partnerships. There

3552-545: The British Crown (inspired by the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 ). The party contested the 1908 North Leitrim by-election , where it secured 27% of the vote. Thereafter, both support and membership fell. At its 1910 ard fheis (party conference) attendance was poor, and there was difficulty finding members willing to take seats on the executive. In 1914, Sinn Féin members, including Griffith, joined

3648-476: The Dáil was allowed at the 1985 Ard Fheis , but did not have the active support of the leadership, and it failed narrowly. By October of the following year an IRA Convention had indicated its support for elected Sinn Féin TDs taking their seats. Thus, when the motion to end abstention was put to the Ard Fheis on 1 November 1986, it was clear that there would not be a split in the IRA as there had been in 1970. The motion

3744-458: The European elections, Sinn Féin lost 2 MEPs and dropped their vote share by 7.8%, while in the local elections the party lost 78 (almost half) of their local councillors and dropped their vote share by 5.7%. McDonald stated "It was a really bad day out for us. But sometimes that happens in politics, and it's a test for you. I mean it's a test for me personally, obviously, as the leader". However, in

3840-612: The IRA's Border Campaign (Operation Harvest) , the Northern Ireland Government banned Sinn Féin under the Special Powers Act ; it would remain banned until 1974. By the end of the Border campaign five years later, the party had once again lost all national representation. Through the 1960s, some leading figures in the movement, such as Cathal Goulding , Seán Garland , Billy McMillen , Tomás Mac Giolla , moved steadily to

3936-799: The Netherlands was "stable" in that it had few protests or riots, but that it was so before consociationalism, and that it was not stable from the standpoint of government turnover. He questioned the extent to which the Netherlands, or indeed any country labelled a consociational system, could be called a democracy, and whether calling a consociational country a democracy isn't somehow ruled out by definition. He believed that Lijphart suffered severe problems of rigor when identifying whether particular divisions were cleavages, whether particular cleavages were segmental, and whether particular cleavages were cross-cutting. Ian Lustick has argued that academics lack an alternative "control" approach for explaining stability in deeply divided societies and that this has resulted in

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4032-585: The Netherlands, and not in more deeply divided societies. If one of three groups gets half plus one of the vote, then the other groups are in perpetual opposition, which is largely incompatible with consociationalism. Consociationalism assumes that each group is cohesive and has strong leadership. Although the minority can block decisions, this requires 100 per cent agreement. Rights are given to communities rather than individuals, leading to over-representation of some individuals in society and under-representation of others. Grand coalitions are unlikely to happen due to

4128-491: The Netherlands, he argues that "the whole cause of the disagreement was the feeling of some Dutchman ... that it mattered what all the inhabitants of the country believed. Demands for policies aimed at producing religious or secular uniformity presuppose a concern ... for the state of grace of one's fellow citizens". He contrasts this to the case of a society marked by conflict, in this case Northern Ireland , where he argues that "the inhabitants ... have never shown much worry about

4224-651: The North or the 'war' would continue". In May 1974, a few months after the Sunningdale Agreement , the ban on Sinn Féin was lifted by the UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland . Sinn Féin was given a concrete presence in the community when the IRA declared a ceasefire in 1975 . 'Incident centres', manned by Sinn Féin members, were set up to communicate potential confrontations to the British authorities. From 1976, there

4320-482: The Provisional IRA) Republican News was eclipsed by An Phoblacht , a new magazine launched by Provisional Sinn Féin in 1970. "An Phoblacht" came first and then in early 1970, Joe Graham and Proinsias Mac Airt put together "The Republican News" and it functioned independently for quite a while. Graham worked on only three issues of it before starting "The Vindicator". The magazines merged under

4416-456: The Republic of Ireland's national political bodies. The party expelled Denis Donaldson , a party official, in December 2005, with him stating publicly that he had been in the employ of the British government as an agent since the 1980s. Donaldson told reporters that the British security agencies who employed him were behind the collapse of the Assembly and set up Sinn Féin to take the blame for it,

4512-702: The anti-Redmond Irish Volunteers , which was referred to by Redmondites and others as the "Sinn Féin Volunteers". Although Griffith himself did not take part in the Easter Rising of 1916, many Sinn Féin members who were members of the Volunteers and the Irish Republican Brotherhood did. Government and newspapers dubbed the Rising "the Sinn Féin Rising". After the Rising, republicans came together under

4608-566: The apparent necessity for external regulation of these agreements, many scholars have characterised these state-building projects as deeply invasive. A recurring concern therein is the erosion of the governing elite's accountability towards its population and the fostering of clientele politics. These dynamics have been pointed to as obstacles to the resolution of the deep divisions consociations are meant to alleviate. Further critiques have pointed out that consociations have at times encouraged conditions of " fragile states ", which state-building

4704-481: The ban, mainly by using actors to dub the voices of banned speakers. The legislation did not apply during election campaigns and under certain other circumstances. The ban lasted until 1994. Tentative negotiations between Sinn Féin and the British government led to more substantive discussions with the SDLP in the 1990s. Multi-party negotiations began in 1994 in Northern Ireland, without Sinn Féin. The Provisional IRA declared

4800-411: The banner of Sinn Féin, and at the 1917 ard fheis the party committed itself for the first time to the establishment of an Irish Republic . In the 1918 general election , Sinn Féin won 73 of Ireland's 105 seats, and in January 1919, its MPs assembled in Dublin and proclaimed themselves Dáil Éireann , the parliament of Ireland. Sinn Féin candidate Constance Markievicz became the first woman elected to

4896-701: The care of the High Court led to the Sinn Féin Funds case , which the party lost and in which the judge ruled that it was not the legal successor to the Sinn Féin of 1917. By the late 1940s, two decades removed from the Fianna Fáil split and now the Sinn Féin funds lost, the party was little more than a husk. The emergence of a popular new republican party, led by former IRA members, in Clann na Poblachta , threatened to void any remaining purpose Sinn Féin had left. However, it

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4992-524: The case for consociationalism and power-sharing had weakened significantly since first proposed based on experiments and real-life observations. He argues that in some cases it can bring short-term peace, but that it is always temporary and is likely to worsen tensions in the long-run. Critics point out that consociationalism is dangerous in a system of differing antagonistic ideologies , generally conservatism and communism . They state that specific conditions must exist for three or more groups to develop

5088-406: The condition that "the existence of positive external regulating pressures, from state to non-state actors, which provide the internal elites with sufficient incentives and motives for their acceptance of, and support for, consociation". In a consociational state, all groups, including minorities, are represented on the political and economic stages. Supporters of the consociationalism argue that it

5184-418: The domestic political affairs of the state to implement legislation on which domestic elites were reluctant to come to an agreement on. While the current results of consociational arrangements implemented in post-conflict state-building endeavours have been mixed, scholars such as O'Leary and McGarry maintain that they have often proven to be the most practical approach to ending immediate conflict and creating

5280-427: The dynamics of ethnic competition. Each group seeks more power for itself. Consociationalists are criticized for focusing too much on the set up of institutions and not enough on transitional issues which go beyond such institutions. Finally, it is claimed that consociational institutions promote sectarianism and entrench existing identities. The political systems of a number of countries operate or used to operate on

5376-513: The elaborately specified claim that issues dividing polarized blocs are settled by leaders convinced of the need for settlement". Consociationalism focuses on diverging identities such as ethnicity instead of integrating identities such as class, institutionalizing and entrenching the former. Furthermore, it relies on rival co-operation, which is inherently unstable. It focuses on intrastate relations and neglects relations with other states. Donald L. Horowitz argues that consociationalism can lead to

5472-488: The empirical overextension of consociational models. Lustick argues that Lijphart has "an impressionistic methodological posture, flexible rules for coding data, and an indefatigable, rhetorically seductive commitment to promoting consociationalism as a widely applicable principle of political engineering", that results in him applying consociational theory to case studies that it does not fit. Furthermore, Lustick states that "Lijphart's definition of 'accommodation' ... includes

5568-457: The ending of the truce. Rees released the last of the internees, and ended ' Special Category Status ' for all prisoners convicted after 1 March 1976. This led first to the blanket protest , and then to the dirty protest . Around the same time, Gerry Adams began writing for Republican News , calling for Sinn Féin to become more involved politically. Over the next few years, Adams and those aligned with him would extend their influence throughout

5664-419: The establishment of democratic consociational power-sharing: elites have to be motivated to engage in conflict regulation; elites must lead deferential segments; and there must be a multiple balance of power, but more importantly the subcultures must be stable. Michael Kerr, in his study of the role of external actors in power-sharing arrangements in Northern Ireland and Lebanon, adds to McGarry and O'Leary's list

5760-520: The ethno-nationalists". Nonetheless, Anderson concedes difficulty lies in the fact such identities cannot simply be wished away, as he argues is attempted when focusing only on individual rights at the expense of group rights. As an alternative of consociationalism Horowitz suggested an alternative model – centripetalism . Centripetalism aims to depoliticize ethnicity and to encourage multi-ethnic parties instead of reinforcing ethnic divides through political institutions. In 2022, Yascha Mounk argued that

5856-569: The expansion of the favourable conditions to external factors in the literature as well. Rather than internally constructed by state elites, these recent examples have been characterised by external facilitation, and at times imposition, through international actors. In the process, consociational arrangements have frequently been used to transform immediate violent conflict and solidify peace settlements in extremely fragile contexts of deeply divided societies. The volatile environments in which these recent examples have been implemented have exhibited

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5952-599: The largest party by one seat. Sinn Féin lost their numerical advantage in February 2022 following the resignation of Violet-Anne Wynne . In November 2020, the national chairman of Sinn Féin Declan Kearney contacted several dissident republican political parties such as Saoradh , Republican Network for Unity and the Irish Republican Socialist Party about creating a united republican campaign to call for

6048-415: The left, even to Marxism , as a result of their own reading and thinking and contacts with the Irish and international left. This angered more traditional republicans, who wanted to stick to the national question and armed struggle. The Garland Commission was set up in 1967, to investigate the possibility of ending abstentionism. Its report angered the already disaffected traditional republican element within

6144-592: The name An Phoblacht/Republican News in 1979. Sinn F%C3%A9in Inactive Defunct Sinn Féin ( / ʃ ɪ n ˈ f eɪ n / shin FAYN , Irish: [ˌʃɪn̠ʲ ˈfʲeːnʲ] ; lit.   ' [We] Ourselves ' ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland . The original Sinn Féin organisation

6240-410: The necessary stability for peace-building to take place. Its utility has been seen in its transformative aspect, flexibility, and "realist" approach to existing identity formations that are difficult to incorporate in a majoritarian system. Lijphart identifies four key characteristics of consociational democracies: Consociational policies often have these characteristics: Lijphart also identified

6336-497: The need for external interference not only for their initial implementation but also for their continued existence. As such, a range of international actors have assumed mediating and supporting roles to preserve power-sharing agreements in targeted states. Most prominently in Bosnia-Herzegovina , this has involved an "international regulating body" in the form of a High Representative who in one period frequently intervened in

6432-536: The new Irish Free State for nine years (it merged with two other organisations to form Fine Gael in 1933). Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin members continued to boycott the Dáil. At a special Ard Fheis in March 1926, de Valera proposed that elected members be allowed to take their seats in the Dáil if and when the controversial Oath of Allegiance was removed. When his motion was defeated, de Valera resigned from Sinn Féin; on 16 May 1926, he founded his own party, Fianna Fáil , which

6528-512: The other, led by Ruairí Ó Brádaigh , became known as " Sinn Féin (Kevin Street) ", or " Provisional Sinn Féin ". As the "Officials" dropped all mention of Sinn Féin from their name in 1982—instead calling themselves the Workers' Party —the term "Provisional Sinn Féin" has fallen out of use, and the party is now known simply as "Sinn Féin". Sinn Féin members have been referred to colloquially as "Shinners",

6624-621: The party dropped its abstentionist policy for the Dáil; some members formed Republican Sinn Féin in protest. In the 1990s, Sinn Féin—under the leadership of Adams and Martin McGuinness —was involved in the Northern Ireland peace process . This led to the Good Friday Agreement and created the Northern Ireland Assembly , and saw Sinn Féin become part of the power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive . In 2006, it co-signed

6720-419: The party simply did not have the funds to contest the second election called that year , declaring "no true Irish citizen can vote for any of the other parties". Fianna Fáil came to power at the 1932 general election (to begin what would be an unbroken 16-year spell in government) and went on to long dominate politics in the independent Irish state. An attempt in the 1940s to access funds that had been put in

6816-456: The party, notably Seán Mac Stíofáin and Ruairí Ó Brádaigh, who viewed such a policy as treason against the Irish Republic. Sinn Féin split in two at the beginning of 1970. On 11 January, the proposal to end abstentionism and take seats, if elected, in the Dáil, the Parliament of Northern Ireland and the Parliament of the United Kingdom was put before the members at the party's Ard Fheis . A similar motion had been adopted at an IRA convention

6912-409: The party. As part of this rapprochement, it was later made clear by the army council that the IRA would dictate to Sinn Féin, and not the other way around. At the 1955 United Kingdom general election , two Sinn Féin candidates were elected to Westminster, and likewise, four members of Sinn Féin were elected to Leinster House in the 1957 Irish general election . In December 1956, at the beginning of

7008-421: The peace process formed the 32 County Sovereignty Movement in the late 1990s. At the 1997 Irish general election , Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin was elected to the Dáil. In doing so, he became the first person under the "Sinn Féin" banner to be elected to Leinster House since 1957 , and the first since 1922 to take their seat. Ó Caoláin's entry to the Dáil marked the beginning of a continuous Sinn Féin presence in

7104-608: The policy of not swearing allegiance to the Queen , as would be required for them to take their seats in the Westminster Parliament. In 2017 and 2018 there were allegations of bullying within the party, leading to a number of resignations and expulsions of elected members. At the Ard Fheis on 18 November 2017, Gerry Adams announced he would stand down as president of Sinn Féin in 2018, and would not stand for re-election as TD for Louth . On 10 February 2018, Mary Lou McDonald

7200-500: The post") electoral system rather than a proportional one. In their heyday, each comprised tightly organised groups, schools, universities, hospitals and newspapers, all divided along a Balkanised social structure. The theory, according to Lijphart, focuses on the role of social elites, their agreement and co-operation, as the key to a stable democracy. Based on this initial study of consociational democracy, John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary trace consociationalism back to 1917, when it

7296-592: The previous month, leading to the formation of a Provisional Army Council by Mac Stíofáin and other members opposed to the leadership. When the motion was put to the Ard Fheis , it failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority. The Executive attempted to circumvent this by introducing a motion in support of IRA policy, at which point the dissenting delegates walked out of the meeting. These members reconvened at Kevin Barry Hall in Parnell Square , where they appointed

7392-461: The prospects of the adherents of the other religion going to hell". Barry concludes that in the Dutch case, consociationalism is tautological and argues that "the relevance of the 'consociational' model for other divided societies is much more doubtful than is commonly supposed". Rinus van Schendelen has argued that Lijphart uses evidence selectively. Pillarisation was "seriously weakening", even in

7488-416: The reification of ethnic divisions, since "grand coalitions are unlikely, because of the dynamics of intraethnic competition. The very act of forming a multiethnic coalition generates intraethnic competition – flanking – if it does not already exist". Consistent with Horowitz's claims, Dawn Brancati finds that federalism/territorial autonomy, an element of consociationalism, strengthens ethnic divisions if it

7584-538: The remaining Sinn Féin organisation was small and often without parliamentary representation. It continued its association with the Irish Republican Army . Another split in 1970 at the start of the Troubles led to the modern Sinn Féin party, with the other faction eventually becoming the Workers' Party . During the Troubles , Sinn Féin was associated with the Provisional Irish Republican Army . For most of that conflict, it

7680-503: The republican movement and slowly marginalise Ó Brádaigh, part of a general trend of power in both Sinn Féin and the IRA shifting north. In particular, Ó Brádaigh's part in the 1975 IRA ceasefire had damaged his reputation in the eyes of northern republicans. The prisoners' protest climaxed with the 1981 hunger strike , during which striker Bobby Sands was elected Member of Parliament for Fermanagh and South Tyrone as an Anti H-Block candidate. After his death on hunger strike, his seat

7776-517: The support of both parties. They nearly reached a deal in November 2004, but the DUP insisted on photographic and/or video evidence that decommissioning of IRA weapons had been carried out, which was unacceptable to Sinn Féin. In April 2006 a number of members of Sinn Féin who believed the party was not committed enough to socialism split from the party and formed a new group called Éirígí , which later became

7872-848: The various colonial townships of the Massachusetts Bay Colony . These were empowered in the civil legislature and magistracy. It was debated at length in the Boston Synod of 1662. This was when the Episcopalian Act of Uniformity 1662 was being introduced in England . Consociationalism was originally discussed in academic terms by the political scientist Arend Lijphart . However, Lijphart has stated that he "merely discovered what political practitioners had repeatedly – and independently of both academic experts and one another – invented years earlier". Theoretically, consociationalism

7968-419: Was inducted from Lijphart's observations of political accommodation in the Netherlands, after which Lijphart argued for a generalizable consociational approach to ethnic conflict regulation. The Netherlands, as a consociational state, was between 1857 and 1967 divided into four non-territorial pillars : Calvinist , Catholic , socialist , and general , although until 1917 there was a plurality ("first past

8064-541: Was a broadcasting ban on Sinn Féin representatives in the Republic of Ireland, after the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs , Conor Cruise O'Brien , amended Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act . This prevented RTÉ interviewing Sinn Féin spokespersons under any circumstances, even where the subject was not related to the Northern Ireland conflict. This lasted until 1994. Political status for prisoners became an issue after

8160-528: Was affected by broadcasting bans in the Irish and British media . Although the party sat on local councils, it maintained a policy of abstentionism for the British House of Commons and the Irish Dáil Éireann , standing for election to those legislatures but pledging not to take their seats if elected. After Gerry Adams became party leader in 1983, electoral politics were prioritised increasingly. In 1986,

8256-575: Was announced as the new president of Sinn Féin at a special Ard Fheis in Dublin. Michelle O'Neill was also elected as vice president of the party. Sinn Féin were opposed to Northern Ireland leaving the European Union together with the rest of the United Kingdom, with Martin McGuinness suggesting a referendum on the reunification of Ireland immediately after the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum results were announced,

8352-412: Was around this same time that the IRA leadership once again sought to have a political arm (the IRA and Sinn Féin had effectively no formal ties following the civil war). Following an IRA army convention in 1948, IRA members were instructed to join Sinn Féin en masse and by 1950 they had successfully taken total control of the party, with IRA army council member Paddy McLogan named as the new president of

8448-586: Was dedicated to republicanising the Free State from within its political structures. He took most Sinn Féin Teachtaí Dála (TDs) with him. De Valera's resignation meant also the loss of financial support from America. The rump Sinn Féin party could field no more than fifteen candidates, and won only five seats in the June 1927 general election , a decline in support not seen since before 1916. Vice-president and de facto leader Mary MacSwiney announced that

8544-577: Was elected to Belfast City Council , the first Sinn Féin member to sit on that body. Sinn Féin polled over 100,000 votes in the Westminster elections that year , and Adams won the West Belfast seat that had been held by the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). By 1985 it had 59 seats on seventeen of the 26 Northern Ireland councils, including seven on Belfast City Council. The party began

8640-413: Was first employed in the Netherlands , while Gerhard Lehmbruch suggests 'precursors' of consociationalism as early as the 1555 Peace of Augsburg . While Lijphart's initial theory drew primarily from Western European democracies in its formulation of consociationalism, it has gained immense traction in post-conflict state-building contexts in the past decades. This development has been reflected in

8736-706: Was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith . Its members founded the revolutionary Irish Republic and its parliament, the First Dáil , and many of them were active in the Irish War of Independence , during which the party was associated with the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) . The party split before the Irish Civil War and again in its aftermath, giving rise to the two traditionally dominant parties of Irish politics: Fianna Fáil , and Cumann na nGaedheal (which merged with smaller groups to form Fine Gael ). For several decades

8832-438: Was held, with an increased vote, by his election agent, Owen Carron . Two other Anti H-Block candidates were elected to Dáil Éireann in the general election in the Republic . These successes convinced republicans that they should contest every election. Danny Morrison expressed the mood at the 1981 Ard Fheis when he said: Who here really believes we can win the war through the ballot box? But will anyone here object if, with

8928-530: Was not reliant on unionist votes and re-admitted Sinn Féin, leading to another, permanent, ceasefire. The talks led to the Good Friday Agreement of 10 April 1998, which set up an inclusive devolved government in Northern Ireland, and altered the Dublin government's constitutional claim to the whole island in Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Ireland . Republicans opposed to the direction taken by Sinn Féin in

9024-401: Was opposition to this decision within Sinn Féin, and some members left, including elected representatives. The most well-known opponent was former IRA prisoner Gerry McGeough , who stood in the 2007 Assembly election against Sinn Féin in the constituency of Fermanagh and South Tyrone , as an Independent Republican. He polled 1.8% of the vote. Others who opposed this development left to found

9120-514: Was passed with a two-thirds majority. Ó Brádaigh and about twenty other delegates walked out, and met in a Dublin hotel with hundreds of supporters to re-organise as Republican Sinn Féin . In October 1988, the British Conservative government followed the Republic in banning broadcasts of Sinn Féin representatives. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said it would "deny terrorists the oxygen of publicity". Broadcasters quickly found ways around

9216-551: Was the second-largest party in the Assembly, after the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), and its nominees served as deputy First Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive. In the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, Sinn Féin has held seven of Northern Ireland's seats since the 2024 election ; it continues its policy of abstentionism at Westminster. In Dáil Éireann , it is the joint-largest party and

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