Political Ideology in Ireland: From the Enlightenment to the Present
L'idéologie politique en Irlande : du siècle des Lumières à nos jours
Résumé
First delivered as part of an international conference held at Brest University in November 2007 - under the aegis of the Centre de Recherche Bretonne et Celtique (CRBC) - this collection of essays essentially aims at interrogating history in order to better understand the political and ideological complexity of early XXIst-century Ireland. This complexity reflects, in many respects, Ireland's uniqueness among the Western European nations. Some of the multiple persuasions within the gamut of Irish political ideology, from the Enlightenment to the present, are thus explored from diverse angles of approach - dialectical, taxonomic, theoretical, practical, individual, collective - and through a diverse range of disciplines - human sciences, political science, social sciences, literature, philosophy and art history - and themes - from Jonathan Swift's rhetorical complexity to the evolution of Irish republicanism after 9/11, including the reassessment of Daniel O'Connell's political ideology, Owenism in Ireland, Oscar Wilde's socialistic ideology, the ideological development of the Republican and Loyalist prisoners. This unique collection of essays, far from being a static historiographical description, provides food for thought and sheds light on the fascinating ambivalent dynamics lying at the heart of the building process of a modern nation resulting from the aggregate of individual will, collective ideals and Zeitgeist. The impressive variety of issues raised by authors of diverse origins (United States, Ireland, Britain, and France), including leading experts in the above-mentioned areas (Richard English, Robert Mahony, Jonathan Tonge, Kieran Allen, John Sloan, Christopher Murray, and Vincent Geoghegan), therefore, widely contributes to the fact that the present book will be intellectually stimulating and enlightening, at least as an introduction, for all the students and scholars of Irish studies and other related disciplines.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Foreword: Richard English
Introduction: Olivier Coquelin, Patrick Galliou, Thierry Robin
Part I: Ireland Before Partition
Chapter One: Ireland and the Enlightenment
- Balance and Paradox: Jonathan Swift and the Rhetoric of Irish Politics
Robert Mahony
- Charles O’Conor: History and Reconciliation
Claire Dubois
- Grattan’s Parliament (1782-1800): Myth and Reality
Olivier Coquelin
Chapter Two: The Anglo-Irish Union
- Robert Owen and Ulster
Vincent Geoghegan
- Exploring Daniel O’Connell’s Political Ideology
Laurent Colantonio
- Cultural Nationalism and the ‘Cashless Bard’: Class and Nation in the Poetry of James Clarence Mangan
Ciara Hogan
- Political Ideology in the Studio of the Irish Sculptor in the Nineteenth Century.
Paula Murphy
- Oscar Wilde’s Critical Ideology
John Sloan
- James Connolly: Nationalism and Socialism
Sophie Ollivier
- Sean O’Casey and the Dream of a New Republic
Christopher Murray
Part II: Ireland After Partition
Chapter Three: Independent Ireland
- Flann O’Brien and the Concept of Ideology
Thierry Robin
- Fianna Fáil and Irish Labour: A New Hegemony?
Kieran Allen
- Sinn Féin and Socialism: A Historical Tradition?
Agnès Maillot
- From Enhancement to Investment: Political Discourse on Culture in Ireland since 1922
Alexandra Slaby
Chapter Four: Northern Ireland
- Unionist Politics and the Suffocation of O’Neillism
James Greer
- ‘Stickies’ and ‘Provos’: Confusion Within Irish Republicanism,
1969-1975
Kacper Rekawek
- ‘Divided Loyalties’: Faulkner Unionists and the Ulster Workers
Council, 1974
Shaun McDaid
- Political Ideology in Ireland: From the Enlightenment to the Present ‘Casualties of War’ or ‘Agents of Change’: Irish Republican Prisoners, Maze/Long Kesh Prison, 1972-2000.
Laurence McKeown
- New Pluralism or Old Ideological Certainties? Examining the Extent of Ideological Change among Republican and Loyalist Former Prisoners in Northern Ireland
Jonathan Tonge, James W. McAuley and Peter Shirlow
- ‘Still Marching After All These Years’: Orange Ideology and the Culture War in Northern Ireland
James W. McAuley and Jonathan Tonge
- From the Myth of the Battle of the Boyne to the Boyne Meeting in May 2007: Unionism at the Crossroads?
Yann Bévant
Redefining Republican ‘Terrorism’ Post-9/11
Jessie Blackbourn