Parading opposition: The influence of Orange Parades on the double minority perception of the Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland.

Abstract

In this thesis, the influence of Orange Parades on the double minority perception of both the Catholic and the Protestant communities will be analysed through the integrated threat theory. Orange parades have throughout history been a focal point in the confrontation between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. The Catholic community has constituted the minority both demographically as in terms of marginalisation. Being an oppressed minority, they have faced the most actual realistic threats. The Ulster protestants have been faced with a more perceived threat of Catholic absorption, but have been challenged what concerns the power balance and recently the fear of becoming a minority has become more actual than perceived. Against this background of a double minority, the Orange parades function as a bottleneck of past tensions and future fears. It becomes clear that the distinction between realistic and symbolic threats are not as clear cut as the integrated threat theory might suggest. In fact, it are exactly the realistic components of a symbolic Orange Parade that bestows the parades with such meaning, and causes the extreme reactions. After all, opposition to the parades is not only perceived as a symbolical threat in a sense that it attacks Protestant culture and identity, but it is seen as a contestation over power, politics and territory as well.