Faith-Based Political Engagement at the Sub-state Level in the UK The Cases of Wales and Northern Ireland Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of P.h.D Matthew D. Rees Department of International Politics Aberystwyth University Wales September 2016. Mandatory Layout of Declaration/Statements Word Count of thesis: 84,942 DECLARATION This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree. Candidate name Matthew D. Rees Signature: Date 26.02.17 STATEMENT 1 This thesis is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. Where *correction services have been used, the extent and nature of the correction is clearly marked in a footnote(s). Other sources are acknowledged by footnotes giving explicit references. A bibliography is appended. Signature: Date 26.02.17 [*this refers to the extent to which the text has been corrected by others] STATEMENT 2 1 | P a g e I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signature: Date 26.02.17 2 | P a g e Abstract This thesis examines how faith-based organisations (FBOs) engage at the sub-state level in the UK. Despite the important political role played by religion historically, in contrast to Scotland, FBO engagement has received very limited attention in the cases of post- devolution Wales and Northern Ireland. By conducting a comparative study of these two cases, the thesis addresses the central research question: ‘In what ways have faith-based organisations engaged with devolved political institutions at the sub-state level in the UK’. In terms of its structure, the thesis is divided into two parts. The first half provides the foundation for the empirical study by assessing the current literature on FBO engagement at the sub-state level in the UK. Following this, it establishes the theoretical framework by conceptualising the FBO as a pressure group. This also informs the research questions, variables and hypotheses investigated. The second half of the thesis reports on the empirical case study based research. The findings highlight how FBOs engaged with devolved political institutions by adapting their political advocacy structures. Each FBO has pursued an insider strategy, with strongly rooted FBOs often supplementing it with an outsider strategy. In response, the majority of FBOs have received a privileged insider status from government, with the exception of weakly rooted FBOs in Northern Ireland. As regards effectiveness, strongly rooted FBOs are well placed to act as effective pressure groups, as are weakly rooted FBOs if they have identified resources desired by decision makers and are in circumstances where a government has established sponsored structures for faith communities. This thesis’ main contribution is its empirical study of FBO engagement at the sub-state level in Wales and Northern Ireland. More general insights are achieved by triangulating the findings with existing studies from the Scottish case. The thesis also contributes more widely to the literature on religion and politics in the UK, pressure group theory and to the privatisation and de-privatisation of religion literature. 3 | P a g e Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................. 14 1.1 The aims of this study ....................................................................................................... 14 1.2 The Faith-Based Organisation: A Definition ....................................................................... 20 1.3 The structure of the thesis. ............................................................................................... 27 1.4 Contribution of this thesis ................................................................................................ 33 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 34 Chapter 2: Literature Review .......................................................................................... 35 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 35 2.1. Literature focusing on FBO engagement pre 1998/9. ........................................................ 36 2.1.1 Religion and Society ............................................................................................................ 36 2.1.2 Historical Studies focusing on FBO political engagement ................................................... 38 2.1.3 Literature which utilises a theoretical approach to analysing FBO engagement ............... 42 2.2 Literature on FBO engagement Post 1998/9 ...................................................................... 45 2.2.1 FBO Engagement within Wider Studies .............................................................................. 45 2.2.2 The opportunity structures available for FBO engagement post-devolution. .................... 48 2.2.3 FBO Engagement with the devolved institutions at the sub-state level ............................. 50 2.2.4 The Limitations of the Literature ........................................................................................ 57 2.3 An evaluation of the theoretical frameworks used in the literature ................................... 60 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 63 Chapter 3: The Theoretical Framework. .......................................................................... 64 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 64 3.1 The FBO as a Pressure Group ............................................................................................ 65 3.1.1 Justifying the use of the term Pressure Group.................................................................... 65 3.1.2 Defining the Pressure Group ............................................................................................... 66 3.1.3 Conceptualising the FBO as a Pressure Group .................................................................... 70 3.2 A Critical Assessment of Pressure Group Theory ................................................................ 72 3.2.1 Political Advocacy Structure ................................................................................................ 72 3.2.1.1 Pressure Group Mobilisation ...................................................................................................... 73 3.2.1.2. The components that make-up the political advocacy structure .............................................. 75 3.2.1.2.1 The Elite Driven / Democratically Driven political advocacy structure .............................. 75 3.2.1.2.2 Staff Based / Voluntary Based political advocacy structure ............................................... 77 3.2.1.2.3 Centralised / Devolved political advocacy structure .......................................................... 78 3.2.1.3 Rescaling interest representation .............................................................................................. 80 3.2.2 Strategy ............................................................................................................................... 82 3.2.2.1 The insider/outsider distinction ................................................................................................. 82 3.2.2.2 Coalition Formation .................................................................................................................... 88 3.2.3 Effectiveness. ...................................................................................................................... 91 3.3: Utilising the theoretical tools for the study of FBO engagement at the sub-state level in the UK ......................................................................................................................................... 93 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 97 Chapter 4: Research Design and Methodology ................................................................ 98 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 98 4 | P a g e 4.1 Research Design. .............................................................................................................. 98 4.1.1 The Secondary Research Questions .................................................................................... 99 4.1.2 Variables ............................................................................................................................ 103 4.1.3 Hypotheses ........................................................................................................................ 105 4.1.4 Case Study Selection ......................................................................................................... 114 4.1.4.1 Wales and Northern Ireland ..................................................................................................... 114 4.1.4.2 FBO Case studies .....................................................................................................................