Parties in Northern Ireland reach out beyond their core base under stable conditions but retreat to their ethnic constituencies in times of uncertainty

Drawing on semi-structured interviews with parties from Northern Ireland, Cera Murtagh and Allison McCulloch examine the extent to which dominant parties in Northern Ireland reach beyond their core ethnic constituencies, how they do that, and why. Their findings suggest that under favourable conditions, flexible power-sharing can create space for incremental moves by ethnic parties to reach out to constituencies beyond their core, gradually moving the system towards more inclusive representation.