Northern Ireland has a poor record of democratic performance and the very welcome prospect of restoration of the democratic institutions bequeathed by the Belfast Agreement should not obscure the real challenges which lie ahead, writes Robin Wilson.
That is the message from Power to the People?, an audit of democracy in Northern Ireland published by the think-tank Tasc, and a companion volume to one just published on the Republic.
The outworking of the Good Friday agreement of April 1998 did not go to the plan envisaged by the governments in London and Dublin and it disappointed the hopes of the citizens across Ireland who voted in its favour. Politically-motivated violence has, thankfully, fallen to a relatively low level. But while the agreement held out a major democratisation step with devolution of power, a prolonged impasse ensured that this transfer from London did not take place until December 1999.
In early 2000 the institutions were suspended amid continuing political arguments, as they were again, twice, in 2001 before they finally collapsed in 2002. It is now expected that they will once more be operative from May 8th this year, following the St Andrews Agreement between the two governments last October.
Power to the People? finds positive aspects of democracy in the region on which to build - notably the strength of the voluntary sector - but it finds other, more negative, features, even if the "democratic deficit" that is direct rule is dismantled. As in the Republic, these are often taken for granted. And the two volumes are strikingly similar in two highlighted areas: the gulf of class inequalities and the very poor representation of women in public, especially political, life.
The main theme of the Northern Ireland assessment is indeed of a "democratic deficit", borrowing the phrase from the EU context. This has characterised the governance of the region under direct rule, particularly when cast in the light of the functioning - warts and all - democracy in the Republic. The depth of democratic denial to which this can lead, as this volume shows, is severe and should be in the foreground of public concern.
Northern Ireland suffers from major social ills which have been obscured by the way the argument over the constitutional future of the region has crowded out discussion of "bread-and-butter" issues. Notable among these are the high level of social disadvantage, although this is ameliorated by relatively low housing costs and Labour's in-work benefits.
There are major concerns about mortality and morbidity rates, and about the associated inequalities in health along a social gradient. One of the success stories of devolution was an innovative strategy on public health, although rising hospital waiting lists were only reversed when direct rule was restored.
There are similar concerns about under-achievement in education, alongside high performance in the grammar schools. But there is continued sectarian polarisation over the abolition of academic selection at 11 and integrated education is still only available to some 5 per cent of pupils.
A serious concern is the low level of representation of women in political life. This is despite the availability of legal provision for positive discrimination via all-women shortlists for candidate selection, which has gone unused. Women are seriously under-represented in all aspects of public life in Northern Ireland: only 16 per cent of current Assembly members are female.
Equal opportunities have historically been at the heart of the Northern Ireland problem. Since the civil rights movement, anti-discrimination has been progressively toughened to address these concerns. The major innovation of the Good Friday agreement in this regard, the egalitarian "section 75", has, however, had modest impact.
The restoration of devolved government in May 2007 will go a significant way to removing the Northern Ireland "democratic deficit". But there is still a profound agenda of democratic reform to be effected if the region is really to embrace modern democratic standards.
Robin Wilson is the co-author of Power to the People? Assessing Democracy in Northern Ireland, just published by Tasc, a think-tank committed to progressive social change in Ireland. He is also a former editor of Fortnight magazine