Institutional Structure

Abstract

For some things individual action, as opposed to organised collective action, is clearly more capable of realising the political aims of a group or community. The use of collective action through the medium of a political party is a recognition of changing circumstances and the emergence of a new set of aims, in the attainment of which organisation becomes a vital weapon. Without a practical, realisable goal, therefore, there is obviously little to gain in maintaining an organisation. As the aim of the Ulster Nationalist Party, Irish unity, was unobtainable through normal constitutional means, they possessed no motive to organise. The shift in political priorities precipitated by the SDLP introduced the concept of Catholic participation in the running of the state as a primary political objective. In the pursuit of this end organisation was assumed to be vital to maximise the Catholic community’s political strength. The SDLP’s institutional structure is thus important, not only in assessing the role it has played in the party’s overall impact on the Northern Ireland political system, but in gauging how the general political environment has affected the organisation’s evolution and operation.