The Assembly collapsed in January 2017 when the late Martin McGuinness resigned as Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister as the cash-for-ash scandal enveloped Stormont. The Government has refused to introduce direct rule due to opposition from Dublin and nationalist parties.
The cohesion of the government broke apart after a scandalous waste of money came to light, from a department that was formerly headed by the then First Minister, who refused to accept blame or stand down during an investigation. This created a standoff that has lasted almost three years.
Thanks to an effective civil service, the autonomic functions of government tick along – garbage gets collected, police catch criminals. But nothing advances. No policy is debated, no decisions are made, no macro problems get fixed.
The lights are on, but nobody's home.
How fortuitous that people are living in a time of particular political stability and certainty...
There are some strong factors as to why the cohesion of this government has broken apart. The situation also illustrates how extreme stubbornness and polarisation makes it impossible to find a compromise, or act in good faith.
This is a symptom of a global phenomenon. Politics is becoming increasingly bitter and spiteful, as folks polarise into more concentrated factions. People increasingly are losing faith in the democratic process.
It is becoming clear to me that top-down governance is no longer sufficient to govern a modern society. We live in a peer-to-peer society today, and yet our governance runs on a completely different model. The tools and institutions that enabled the 20th century are not sufficient for us to survive and prosper in the 21st.
We must work to build bottom-up and peer-to-peer policy generation and decision solutions that
– Better respond to local needs and specifics.
– Enable real-time decision making.
– Are about individual people and their ideas, not factions and immovable ideologues.
– Empower honest people to lead their communities, wherever they may happen to be.
– Save us from being mired in the mud of political bad faith.