What the project set out to do:

The project set out to develop a better understanding of the ideology, attitudes and demographics of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland by conducting a membership survey of the entire party membership.

Claiming neutrality on Northern Irelands constitutional future, Alliance is the third-best supported party in the region, behind only the DUP and Sinn Féin. This project aimed to rectify a lack of knowledge about the party, analysing what the party members’ non-unionist and non-nationalist ideology represents, assessing how the partys beliefs attempt to either straddle or overcome Northern Irelands divisions, what the members want in terms of the constitution and understanding what policies are seen as most desirable to diminish sectarian divisions.

How it went:

A questionnaire was sent to each party member, which could be completed either online or by post. 806 replies were received, 55% of the party membership. These have now been analysed and Jon and his team will brief the Alliance Party on the results in January 2022 after which the findings will be published. Jon is expecting good media coverage on his findings, and he also intends to make this work with Alliance a 2027/8 REF impact case study.

Jon will also present the results as academic papers at PSA22 in June and EPOP22 in September and at the Political Studies Association of Ireland conference in October 2022. The PSA Irish Politics Group will also host a one-day conference on parties in Northern Ireland to maximise dissemination.