Dimensionality of Policy Space in Consociational Northern Ireland

A criticism of consociational power sharing as an institutional response to violent conflict is that it buttresses rather than ameliorates the underlying (linguistic, religious or ethno-national) divide, hence prohibiting the emergence of new dimensions of political competition (such as economic left-right or moral liberal-conservative dimensions) that are characteristic of 'normal' societies. We test this argument in the context of the illustrative Northern Ireland case, using data from expert coding of party policy documents and opinion data derived from two Voter Advice Applications (VAAs). We find evidence for a moral liberal-conservative dimension of politics in addition to the ethno-national dimension. Hence, we caution against assuming that consociational polities are uni-dimensional.

Mindfulness - As a coping strategy

Mindfulness has been described as “paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.” (Kabat-Zinn, 1994, p. 4). It is a technique where one focuses on the present, gradually letting go of thoughts about the past or the future. Mindfulness is becoming more popular as a technique to help people manage stress. Research suggests, for example, that individuals who have higher levels of mindfulness have increased performance in attention and cognitive flexibility (Moore & Malinowski, 2009); report higher levels of relationship satisfaction (Kozlowski, 2013), and lower levels of perceived stress (Roeser et al., 2013). As a therapeutic technique mindfulness has been shown to be effective through, for example, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (Nevanper, 2012). Aims of Research The argument offered here is that mindfulness is likely to act in the same way as other types of coping i.e. that it is not a ‘silver bullet’ and that it is likely to be a preferred strategy used by some and not others. The aim of this research therefore is to compare the impact of mindfulness compared to other types of coping on well-being - operationalised as happiness, selfcompassion and stress.