Irish Nationalism and Republicanism
www.irlgov.ie
Photo by David C. Harding www.flickr..com
www.sinnfein.ie
Reading
Tonge (2002) ch. 5 McGarry and O‟Leary,(1995) Explaining Northern Ireland ch.1. Dixon (2001) Northern Ireland: The Politics of War and Peace ch.1 Ruane and Todd (1996) The Dynamics of Conflict in Northern Ireland ch. 4 (on ideology and conflict) Richard English (2007) Irish Freedom: A History of Nationalism in Ireland
How the terms are used in Ireland
• Nationalism • Republicanism
–
(1) The belief that one's country ought to be a republic rather than a monarchy; – (2) specifically, in Ireland, support for the militant (armed) branch of Irish nationalism.
– The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics, 2005
Nationalism as an ideology
– Ideology A cohesive set of beliefs, ideas, and symbols through which persons interpret the world and their place within it. Based on theory: a set of ideas about how the world works and how it should works, forming a basis for action or inaction – Nationalism ideology A world of nations: „peoples‟ with a right to selfdetermination
“…a people is as much a plant of nature as is a family… An empire made up of a hundred peoples and a 120 provinces which have been forced together is a monstrosity, not a state-body…
Johann Gottfried von Herder: Materials for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind, 1784
Nationalism and democracy
– A radical democratic ideology – Nationalism and legitimacy
“Nationalism, the most potent modern principle of political legitimacy” McGarry and O‟Leary, Explaining Northern Ireland – A radical, democratic ideology
Varieties of nationalism
Language Has a people anything dearer than the speech of its fathers? In its speech resides its whole thought-domain, its tradition, history, religion, and basis of life, all its heart and soul.”
Johann Gottfried von Herder: Materials for the Philosophy of the History of Mankind, 1784
– Territory – „Race‟ – Religion
“To unite Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter under the common name of Irishmen…” Wolfe Tone
Traditions in Irish Nationalism
– Civic Nationalism
– Ethnic Nationalism
– Constitutional or Militant
Varieties of Nationalism in Contemporary Irish Politics
– Traditional nationalism
– Neo-nationalists
– Revisionists
• Warring factions, British neutrality • Accepting and supporting the border “Patriots of the present Irish state”
McGarry and O‟Leary, p.20
Key Nationalist arguments
– The right to Irish National SelfDetermination
– British Motivation
Weaknesses in these arguments
– Self-determination
– British Motivation
– Misreading Unionists
Nationalism Today
– The changing role of Britain – Acceptance of the legitimacy of Unionism to an extent – Consent