The Rise of the Middle Ground in Northern Ireland: What does it Mean?

Among the many consequences of Brexit for Northern Ireland has been how it has contributed to and coincided with some alteration of the electoral landscape. This includes the rise of the centre ground and, in particular, the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI). This article focusses specifically on how the Alliance Party, as the largest of Northern Ireland's middle ground parties, has navigated the Brexit period and with what effect. The analysis explores the implications of the growing size and strength of the Alliance Party for Northern Ireland politics, institutions, policies, north-south relations and the constitutional future. It concludes that although the nationalist versus unionist binary remains valid and consequential in Northern Ireland, it is being challenged and tested by the rise of the middle ground in ways which offer both opportunities and challenges for Northern Ireland's future.     

Theory vs reality: partisanship and Northern Ireland's Public Accounts Committee 2011–2016

Public accounts committees (PACs) are tasked with scrutinising executive use of public money, undertaking inquiries with the support of the legislative auditor. Through several means, an expectation is placed on members to be politically neutral in undertaking committee work. However, in the context of Northern Ireland, where consociationalism entrenches binary ethno-national identities throughout the political institutions, it would be expected that party-political interests would prevail and fracture the committee. This paper analyses Northern Ireland's PAC from three perspectives alongside qualitative data from interviews with committee members: theory, party-partisanship and changes in the committee's working relationship with the legislative auditor. It is argued that over the 2011–2016 mandate, this PAC coalesced and functioned well as a unit despite expectation to the contrary, and that the changing dynamics of its working relationship with the Northern Ireland Audit Office over this time are testament to its development in this way.     

Back to Stormont: The New Decade,New Approach Agreement and What it Means for Northern Ireland

The decision of the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin to once again share power in Northern Ireland has ended a three-year hiatus in the region’s devolved government. The deal which resurrects the devolved institutions—New Decade, New Approach—is not short of ambition. It introduces significant institutional reforms which place the institutions on a more sustainable footing and limit the potential for abuse of the Assembly’s infamous Petition of Concern. Nettles have been grasped on issues to do with language, culture, and identity that have long vexed political parties in Northern Ireland. Tucked away in the deal’s appendices are commitments to implement outstanding pledges made in previous agreements, plus ambitious plans for the new Northern Ireland Executive. However, as parties in the region were quick to discover, aspects of this deal are easier said than done. This article considers what New Decade, New Approach promises and, if fully implemented, what its implications are for politics and governance in Northern Ireland.     

安徽人文讲坛品牌打造的实践与推广

为了更好地将人文社科知识转化为解决实际问题的智慧,肩负起时代使命,安徽人文讲坛在实践中找方向,在探索中谋发展。为此,把握安徽人文讲坛在其品牌打造过程中所发挥的作用及角色定位,剖析讲坛工作中存在的问题和不足,提出办好安徽人文讲坛的几点建议。     

安徽新型治监理念研究——监狱科学发展的本质内涵及其实现路径

科学发展观是中国共产党立足历史和时代的高度,在统筹国内和国际两个大局,借鉴人类文明的积极成果的基础上,积极应对严峻挑战而提出的重大战略思想。科学发展观是以其丰富的思想内涵、严密的内在逻辑构建起来的科学理论体系。在学习和贯彻这一科学理论的实践中,安徽监狱系统能紧密联系本系统、本行业的具体特点和监狱发展的阶段性实际,立足于创新监狱发展理念为先导,积极引领、带动全省监狱工作走向科学化发展道路,把科学发展的监狱实践作为安徽监狱发展的理想归宿和终极目标。     

小额贷款公司在安徽的发展与完善——以助推皖北发展为视角

安徽小额贷款公司发展迅速，但区域发展差异大，尤其是皖北地区，存在着区域发展不平衡现象。安徽省委省政府日前出台了进一步加快皖北地区发展的若干意见，为安徽小额贷款公司在皖北发展带来了新的机遇。     

清末民初的典习惯与司法裁判——以奉天省为中心的考察

习惯在司法近代化以前不具有作为裁判依据的法源性特征,在司法近代化过程中,习惯被作为本土资源被"发现"和利用,这与固有民法中制定法的缺乏和不足以及近代西方法政思潮中习惯和习惯法观念在近代中国的传播等因素密切相关。与此同时,民初大理院对某些习惯的限制和导正政策,导致习惯在司法领域不仅被"发现"和利用,而且被进一步"现代化",这对地方司法实践产生了一定的影响。     

从传播学视角看贵州苗族独竹漂

贵州省苗族独竹漂是贵州苗族人民在长期的生产实践和社会实践中,创造出来的一项具有健身特点的水上体育技能项目,集体育性、娱乐性、群众性和观赏性于一体。要使贵州苗族独竹漂具有长久生命力,要借助各种大众传播媒介来宣传、介绍独竹漂的文化价值特性,充分彰显独竹漂自身魅力。要把独竹漂与红色革命传统相契合,展现独竹漂悠久的历史和丰富的文化内涵,增强广大民众对独竹漂文化的认同和自信。从原生态水上运动独创项目和激发人们挑战大自然的拼搏精神和勇气中获得了传播的动力,构建独竹漂文化传播的基本理论,以理论指导独竹漂传播实践。利用教育的渠道来聚敛独竹漂这笔有形和无形的"文化财富",溶于日臻完善的教育体系中去。对独竹漂要进行自身的文化创新,满足不同受众要求。使之成为新型体育文化的积极因素。要策划运作好独竹漂,让受众通过全方位的参与和融入,充分理解独竹漂的内涵和特色。     

论影响广西壮族自治区外商直接投资的因素及对策建议

随着广西壮族自治区对外开放程度的不断提高,利用外商直接投资规模迅速增长,外商直接投资在推动广西经济发展方面起到了重大作用。本文在回顾国内外影响外商直接投资相关文献的基础上,选取三大因素七个变量八大指标分析影响广西外商直接投资的因素,通过实证分析得出人均GDP、基本设施投资完成额、累计外商直接投资和第三产业占GDP的比重四个因素显著。最后,从上述四个方面提出广西壮族自治区进一步加强引进外商直接投资的对策建议。     

‘New dissidents are but old Provisionals writ large’? The Dynamics of Dissident Republicanism in the New Northern Ireland

This article discusses recent developments in dissident Irish republicanism and some of the arguments advanced to explain its emergence as a factor in Northern Irish politics. In particular it considers those explanations which define these new armed groups as either the latest manifestation of a historically determined Irish republican tradition or simply as ‘residual terrorist groups’ left behind by Provisional republicanism's movement into the constitutional mainstream in the 1990s. It rejects these arguments as ahistorical and schematic, and instead suggests that the dynamics and trajectory of dissident republicanism are shaped instead by the inherent tensions and structures of ‘the new Northern Ireland’. It goes on to compare the contemporary political, social and economic forces that produce the dissidents with the conditions that created the Provisionals as in the early 1970s and concludes that whilst these new groups will continue to pose a threat to the ‘normalization’ of the new dispensation they will not be successful as their republican forebears in mobilizing a significant and sustained challenge to the Northern Irish state.