A history of the Northern Ireland contflict

 Northern Ireland is governed by a power-sharing agreement known as consociationalism as laid down in the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. This system believes that power should be shared equally between the various sectarian groups in a state, in this case, between the pro-Irish unity faction, called the Nationalists or Republicans, and the pro-U.K. faction, which are the Loyalists or the Unionists. Sinn Fein is the largest Nationalist political party (also left-wing), while the DUP is of the latter. The party that wins the largest vote-share will hold the First Minister position while the party with the second largest vote share will keep the post of Deputy First Minister. Of these two posts, one must be a Unionist and the other a Nationalist. Both positions hold equal weight and one cannot exist without the other.