Citizens’ Power-Sharing: Conjoint Experiments in Northern Ireland and Cyprus

• In Event: Power-Sharing, Citizens and Good Governance: New Empirical Approaches

Abstract

This paper addresses the question of how important power sharing political institutional arrangements are to the design of peace settlements that can elicit the support of citizens and different groups of citizens in deeply divided societies. The paper will also explore which types of power sharing arrangements receive more or less citizen support. Power sharing political institutions have been widely advocated as a peace management solutions, but the public has rarely been involved in their selection. We do not know how relatively important power sharing institutions are to the public acceptance of peace settlements, nor do we know which types of arrangements would attract the support of different groups of citizens. Drawing upon data collected through conjoint survey experiments in Northern Ireland and Cyprus this paper shows how important power sharing institutions are relative to other dimensions of peace agreements and what types of power sharing arrangements can elicit majority and also cross community support. The paper identifies the policy implications for the types of peace settlement power sharing arrangements that do and do not induce public support

Authors

• Edward Morgan-Jones, University of Kent

• Laura Sudulich, University of Kent

• Feargal Cochrane, University of Lancaster

• Neophytos Loizides