Contentious Rituals and Intergroup Relations: Parading in Northern Ireland

In some divided societies, identity-based groups engage in ‘contentious rituals’, such as public parades or commemorative events, to cultivate the group’s collective social memory and build solidarity. We examine whether and how such rituals perpetuate group divisions in post-conflict societies, dra...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Rickard, Kit, Hollenweger, Giovanni, Weber, Sigrid, Bakke, Kristin
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:IE
Repositorio:Repositorio IE
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.ie.edu:20.500.14417/4293
Acceso en línea:https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123425100835
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14417/4293
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-political-science/article/contentious-rituals-and-intergroup-relations-parading-in-northern-ireland/43D12CAF7CC865098DF14AA3CF9D932E
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:63 Sociología
ODS 16 - Paz, justicia e instituciones sólidas
rituals
Northern Ireland
post-conflict society
intergroup relations
Descripción
Sumario:In some divided societies, identity-based groups engage in ‘contentious rituals’, such as public parades or commemorative events, to cultivate the group’s collective social memory and build solidarity. We examine whether and how such rituals perpetuate group divisions in post-conflict societies, drawing on evidence from a case study of parading in Northern Ireland. Every year, contentious parades in this post-conflict society have the potential to raise tensions between the two major communities, Catholics and Protestants. Using a mixed-methods design, we show that parades in Northern Ireland are detrimental to intergroup attitudes. Our research design relies on compiling geolocated data on over 55,000 parades (2002–22), analyses of both nationally representative longitudinal surveys (2003–19) and an original survey fielded in 2022, and insights from qualitative fieldwork conducted during the height of the parading season in 2023.