Republicanism in Ireland: Confronting Theory and Practice

This volume explores the meaning of republicanism in contemporary Ireland. While this has often been identified simply with nationalism, the book examines the connections, comparisons and contrasts between Irish republicanism and other strands of republican politics: the ideology and practice of official French republicanism, the broader European and American civic republican tradition and the contemporary revival of this tradition of citizenship.

Academics from different disciplines, along with statesmen and politicians from different political perspectives, are brought together to examine the relationship of historical and contemporary Irish republicanism to the wider republican theoretical tradition. The book analyzes the variety of, and changes in, political positions among those parties describing themselves as republican in Ireland in the twenty-first century and examines the possible relevance of the ideas of the broader republican tradition for future politics in Ireland, in the context of multiculturalism, economic globalization and increasing regional and transnational governance.

It will be essential reading for anyone interested in the ideas at work in the evolution of Irish politics, North and South.

Iseult Honohan is Senior Lecturer in Political Theory in the School of Politics and International Relations at University College Dublin.