Northern Slant Editor, Connor Daly, writes ahead of our panel discussion, Thinking Longer-Term: The Future of Politics to be held on Thursday 24 March, 7:00pm-8:30pm at the Dark Horse bar in Belfast, part of the Imagine! Festival of Ideas and Politics. Tickets are £5 – book online here.

As Northern Ireland emerges from the pandemic and approaches a fresh Assembly election, much of our politics remains dominated by short-term and reactive thinking. Our mechanics of government and ways of engaging citizens remain largely unchanged.

The fact that political parties have so often and so casually threatened and collapsed Stormont – NI has been without a functioning government for 35% of its lifespan – is testament to the stasis of our politics. 

The latest suspension of devolution comes at a time when faith in government and media institutions globally is in decline. According to this year’s Edelman Trust Barometer, nearly one out of two respondents viewed both institutions as divisive forces in society, together fuelling “a vicious cycle of distrust”.

To restore the cycle of trust, the Barometer cites business’ increased leadership in society, restoration of belief in society’s ability to build a better future, and provision of credible, fact-based information. Another key recommendation is for leaders to focus on long-term thinking over short-term gain, and to offer solutions over divisiveness.

In Northern Ireland, polling ratings of Stormont party leaders have been consistently low for some time. The latest LucidTalk ‘tracker’ poll (January 2022) makes for concerning reading. Of six party leaders put to respondents, only the UUP’s Doug Beattie received a positive rating at +12. The two leaders vying for the first and deputy first minister roles in May, the DUP’s Sir Jeffrey Donaldson and Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill, received -55 and -20 respectively.

Long-term thinking is about having a vision beyond the next election cycle, building resilience in the face of uncertainty, and our responsibility to future generations.

Given the deadly impact of the pandemic over the past two years, it’s reasonable that our politicians and public services focused on the emergency at hand. The question now is what preparations are being made for future pandemics and unforeseen political, social, economic and environmental risks and opportunities? To what extent is this possible given we are currently without a functioning Executive?

Short-termism undermines efforts to build trust in all our political leaders, our ways of doing politics, our devolved institutions and community relations more broadly. It distracts from our need to think about the future of this place and its people. Efforts are also needed to think strategically about economic growth, and the contributions that civic society, businesses and educated young people choosing to stay here rather than going elsewhere can make. This is something we’ve covered at length on Northern Slant.

As a number of political and societal factors continue to shape Northern Ireland, the need to promote longer-term strategic thinking to meet the changing needs of citizens has never been greater.

As the post-Good Friday Agreement generation makes its way in a post-pandemic world, to succeed political parties need to embrace changing demographics and voter priorities. Public services can up their preparations to respond effectively and adapt to new challenges. As citizens, we must also use this moment to reimagine our relationship with democracy, to make Northern Ireland politics more representative of a place in transition.

Roman Krznaric, author of The Good Ancestor wrote that by making wise – and long – choices we can become the good ancestors that future generations deserve. “The key to being a good ancestor is not ‘how can I make a difference?’ but ‘how can we make the difference?’”

At Northern Slant we want to be good ancestors. This is why we’re hosting the discussion, Thinking Longer-Term: The Future of Politics on Thursday 24 March, 7:00pm-8:30pm at the Dark Horse bar in Belfast.

Part of the Imagine! Festival of Ideas and Politics, we’ll bring together a panel of experts to hear why and how we need to think longer-term about our politics, governance, economy and citizenship. We’ll announce our panel in the coming days.

We want to hear from you too, so do join us with your ideas and questions. Tickets are £5 – you can book online here. All proceeds will be reinvested in Northern Slant.

Also published on Medium.