Allister in Wonderland

After watching Jim Allister's appearance on Hearts and Minds this week one can't help but notice his complete lack of ideas for the future and his refusal to acknowledge the the suitability of the North's consociational model to its political culture.

It is not by accident that we have a mandatory coalition and d'Hondt in this country and it is by no means unique. Allister clearly is not aware of the schismatic nature of Belgian society (the home of the eponymous Victor D'Hondt) and the utilisation of the d'Hondt system there nor of the history of consociational democracy in other European states such as the Netherlands. In fact, he even goes as far as to state that we are the only western democracy using such a system.

The reasons why systems are set up on a consociational basis is well-documented; these are societies characterised by ethnic or national divisions and the system is designed to prevent the hegemony of one over the other. The logical conclusion to Allister's opposition to the GFA and to the system that it set up is that he wishes to return to the dark days of the old Stormont regime; the regime that acted in the interests of only one section of society and oppressed the other section until elements within it exploded with terrible consequences.

While I am the first to accept that the present setup is far from ideal we must acknowledge that we live in the real world and not in some ideologically pure astral plane. Politics is the art of the possible and no other settlement will possibly deliver the necessary safeguards for our communities to facilitate a working democracy in the North of Ireland.

Allister's ideas are nothing if not intellectually bankrupt and reactionary but they must be heard. It is true that many unionists voted for the DUP and now feel cheated and those unionists must have a voice (that is a central tenant of pluralist liberal democracy) but did they really think Paisley would act differently? Of course none of us expected the almost sickening degree of joviality and the surprising rapport between Barry and Paul (sorry, Marty and Ian) but the signs were clear that the DUP were ready to move into powersharing. They had dragged their feet until the Ulster Unionists were dead in the water and now it was Paisley's turn to U-turn and take power when it suited him to do so. If and when Allister's new 'political movement' becomes a political party we will see how many unionists will support him now that the DUP and the UUP are roughly-speaking on the same wavelength (comparisons to McCartney are slightly disingenuous given that some supporters of the DUP voted on a quasi-anti-agreement platform in March and might have supported an anti-agreement candidate or party if they had have had the benefit of hindsight).

However, if Allister does get some sort of mandate it will be interesting to see where he goes next; will he take a seat in a system he despises, will he just shout from the sidelines? Either way I believe having an anti-agreement party with a mandate will create more problems than it solves and will test an already shaky foundation for democracy in the North. I pray that unionists will see sense and realise Allister and his motley crew of has-beens are leading them up a blind alley.