evidence: The agreement’s commitment to a consociational model of governance–wherein ethnic or sectarian differences are not eliminated but rather enshrined within a legal framework which seeks to adjudicate a sharing of power and preserve civil liberties–was an innovative and admirable solution to a seemingly intractable problem. But in practice, power sharing has not gone smoothly. The Northern Irish Executive created by the GFA can only exist so long as political parties on both sides of the sectarian divide nominate their own members to serve as ministers within it. Since 2017, the Executive has been active for no more than a total period of three years. Sinn Fein (pronounced "shin fayn"), the primary Nationalist party, and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the primary Loyalist party, have consistently withdrawn their members from the Executive over various political wedge issues, only allowing for Northern Ireland’s devolved government to return to power after a series of protracted crisis talks. What this means is that the territory has been governed by the British Parliament in London more than it has been governed by its own representatives. This has severely handicapped government spending, resulting in the deterioration of public services such as healthcare and education.