Political scientists now realise that the British political system fits rather uneasily into the conventional categories by which it is usually described (see, for example, Rose 3). The concepts of unitary state, nation-state, political homogeneity and sovereignty of parliament, for example, are now being re-examined to see whether they are in fact applicable to Britain. Firstly, the unitary character of the British state is restricted by the existence of various forms of devolution or decentralisation which exist above the level of local government. The most extended of these was the government of Northern Ireland, which from 1920 to l972 included a separately elected parliament at Stormont, an executive responsible to it, a local government structure and a system of courts. In this period. Northern Ireland was governed partly from Stormont and partly from London, the division of powers being laid down in the Government of Ireland Act of 1920 and subsequent statutes. This was a sort of federal relationship between the government of the UK and that of Northern Ireland. The Ireland Act of 1949 stated that Northern Ireland would not cease to be part of the UK without the consent of the Northern Ireland Parliament. In 1972, however, the Stormont system was suspended by the British Government, and replaced by ‘direct rule’, pending the establishment of a new constitution. Between 1973 and 1982 several attempts were made to establish a reformed Stormont system with a ‘power-sharing Executive’ including both Protestants and Catholics.