What is the Irish nation? Is it old? –How old? What is its nature? Celtic? Is it invented? –By whom, for what purpose? Why did it (re)emerge at the end of the 18 th Century? How might we answer these questions?

The effects of nationalism Why does some nationalism become violent and others not? –Contrast Scotland and Ireland Will nationalism re-emerge as an important ideology in response to globalisation? –What form might it will take?

Cleavage and the party system in Ireland? Dr. Eoin O’Malley

The main cleavages in societies Centre- periphery (subject- dominant culture) Church- State Urban- Rural (primary- secondary economy) Class

Cross cutting or reinforcing The importance of cleavages and the extent to which society will be divided depends on where they cut across one another or reinforce one another

Cleavages and voting patterns The cleavage structures allow us to explain the party systems Therefore we could tell if we knew someone’s class or religion, or where they were from, how they would vote As these structural factors remained consistent over time we may expect that so do voting patterns

Cleavages in Ireland Religion was very important in pre- independence, but since then there was a general acceptance of majority religion –No anti-clerical party, but an identifiable secular movement from the early 1970s Centre-periphery was arguable an important mean to distinguish between the parties in Ireland. Anymore? –FF was more associated with periphery and FG and Labour with the centre

Cleavages in Ireland New state had little sense of a class system, yet there were identifiably wealthy and poor groups And different groups who have different political desires in terms of state involvement Party politics partly represented these groups But these groups are not formed on class lines –In fact, in terms of voters, Labour is the most middle class party in Ireland –FF successfully appealed to all groups in Irish society

What is a party system? A means of classifying or describing the parties and their interaction in a political system –The pattern in the unique combinations of parties Closely linked to party families –Socialists, Nationalists, Christian Democrats, Communists, Greens etc. Linked to cleavage structure and the electoral system

Explanations of party systems Linked to the cleavage structure of society –Cross-cutting may lead to more parties –A dominant cleavage may cause define the party system –Class in many countries, language, religion is also common Electoral system limits the possibility of additional parties –Contrast the UK with Israel

The Irish party system A two and a half party system –Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour Or dominant one party system? –Dominance of Fianna Fáil (in government for 57 of last 75 years) A new two block system? –FF+1 versus FG/ Labour –Or Fianna Fáil choosing new partners

The Irish party system

Puzzle of the Irish party system Carty (1983: 1) was puzzled by the fact that one found parties ‘heterogeneous in their bases of support, relatively undifferentiated in terms of policy or programme, and remarkably stable in their support levels’.

Is the Irish party system sui generis ? Can we see a cleavage base for the Irish party system? –Some have argued that the centre-periphery cleavage is important If none of the obvious cleavages, what do Irish parties compete on? Do they compete at all? –Candidate based system

Emergence of the party system From the war of independent All surviving parties were ‘revolutionary’ or signed up to the revolutionary ideals Broad agreement on nationalism and national aims Series of splits on constitutional issues With the exception of Labour and Greens, all parties have roots in Sinn Féin –Series of splits from entrenched SF

Civil War split Political traditions in Ireland Waves of migration to Ireland –Norse –Anglo-Normans (Old English) –New English/ Scots/ Welsh

Civil War split Political traditions in Ireland Waves of migration to Ireland –Norse –Anglo-Normans (Old English) –New English/ Scots/ Welsh

Civil War split Political traditions in Ireland Waves of migration to Ireland –Norse –Anglo-Normans (Old English) –New English/ Scots/ Welsh

Differences between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael –National identity –Ireland/ Britain relationship –Constitutionalism

Changing party system In 1982 the three main parties had 94% of the vote; in %, % New parties have emerged, and some old ones re-emerged rebranded Emergence and demise of PDs/ Greens? Fianna Fáil’s ‘coalitionability’ Emergence of P. Sinn Féin

Next week 1.Why is left in Ireland apparently so weak? Will this change? What might make it change? 2.Ireland’s political institutions