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Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Keywords
Northern Ireland, Moderate Vote Share, Elections, Integrated Education, Integrated Schools
Department
Political Science
Major
Political Science
Abstract
In answering the question, to what extent does integrated education in post-conflict Northern Ireland affect political moderation, the thesis explores the relationship between integrated education and moderate vote share in Parliamentary, Assembly, and Council elections. Integrated education has many benefits, such as those on inter-ethnic attitudes, which the article explores through the lens of contact theory and Self-Categorization Theory (SCT). However, literature has yet to study the relationship between integrated schools and voting behavior. The thesis attempts to fill that gap by studying how the attitude changes caused by integrated education translate into a change in political behavior and outcomes. The paper studies this relationship by completing a number of linear regression analyses for each election type with the dependent variable of moderate vote share and either the number of integrated schools or the presence of integrated schools in an electoral district as the main independent variable. The results differ by election type, as the integrated schools variable was significant in three of the four models in Council elections, and two of four models in both Parliamentary and Assembly elections. The strength in the Council election results can be attributed to the electoral system of STV, which encourages post-election power-sharing and pre-election inter-ethnic vote-pooling through party platform moderation, as well as the unique characteristics of local government districts.
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Rizkallah
Presentation Session
Session B
Start Date
23-4-2021 2:15 PM
End Date
23-4-2021 2:30 PM
Political Moderation in Northern Ireland: Integrated Education’s effect on Moderate Vote Share
In answering the question, to what extent does integrated education in post-conflict Northern Ireland affect political moderation, the thesis explores the relationship between integrated education and moderate vote share in Parliamentary, Assembly, and Council elections. Integrated education has many benefits, such as those on inter-ethnic attitudes, which the article explores through the lens of contact theory and Self-Categorization Theory (SCT). However, literature has yet to study the relationship between integrated schools and voting behavior. The thesis attempts to fill that gap by studying how the attitude changes caused by integrated education translate into a change in political behavior and outcomes. The paper studies this relationship by completing a number of linear regression analyses for each election type with the dependent variable of moderate vote share and either the number of integrated schools or the presence of integrated schools in an electoral district as the main independent variable. The results differ by election type, as the integrated schools variable was significant in three of the four models in Council elections, and two of four models in both Parliamentary and Assembly elections. The strength in the Council election results can be attributed to the electoral system of STV, which encourages post-election power-sharing and pre-election inter-ethnic vote-pooling through party platform moderation, as well as the unique characteristics of local government districts.