Sectarianism and Social Capital: Community Development in Northern Ireland

There is a prevailing belief within the majority of the community sector and indeed, amongst many politicians and policy makers that there is a gap between Catholic and Protestant community development. However it is also argued that the Catholic community has more calculated social need than the Protestant community. It was not my desire, nor within my ability with my limited time frame to measure the capacities of the two communities and determine if there is presently a gap, but simply to look at the reasons put forth by community developers, politicians, and academics for the reason this gap exists. This could be seen as a indirect approach to the question, because how can you try and determine the reasons a thing exists without actually proving that it does in fact exist. However, sometimes the prevailing attitude is just as important and has more influence on the actions of the people involved, then the truth does. Thus, what follows is both a look at the debate on the UPRG funding and a survey of the reasons put forth for a disparity between Catholic and Protestant community development. First, though, it is important to asses which factors affect community development and specifically how they affect Northern Ireland’s policy towards community development