Civic Parties in Divided Societies

<p>In Northern Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina, a new form of politics is emerging thirty years after conflict. Despite ongoing polarization, civic political parties – those that reject ethnonationalism and organize around alternative identities and issues – have formed, endured, and claimed political space. Notably, these parties have emerged within the context of consociational power-sharing, a political system explicitly designed to accommodate ethnonational groups.</p> <p>The rise of civic politics challenges the dominant narrative of deeply divided societies. Cera Murtagh explores how countries transition from armed conflict to issue-based democracies, highlighting both the institutional barriers that civic parties face and the opportunities they can seize. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, including more than one hundred semi-structured elite interviews at critical political moments, <em>Civic Parties in Divided Societies</em> is the culmination of over a decade's research on Northern Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and beyond.</p> <p>How do societies move on from conflict, not just to the cessation of violence, but towards a fuller civic democracy? And how do they do so when institutions have been put in place to manage the conflict by recognizing ethnonational identity? <em>Civic Parties in Divided Societies</em> looks at how global political trends might shape the future of civic politics in societies rife with cleavages.</p>