ABSTRACT
UK political institutions are among the oldest in the world. While significant reforms have recently taken place with regard to devolution and the territorial distribution of power in general, the UK still preserves many elements of the institutional architecture developed over the last two centuries. Politics was centralised in London, in Westminster and Whitehall. The Parliament of Northern Ireland replicated the same majoritarian dynamics as Westminster but without alternation in power, constantly celebrating British unionism. The criticism of the “Westminster model” launched by the proponents of the paradigm shift has had such an impact on British political science that it has provoked reactions in the opposite direction. The “Westminster model” has often been associated with institutional effectiveness and efficiency.
