Political Parties In The Republic Of Ireland

Building on the success of previous editions, Politics in the Republic of Ireland continues to provide an authoritative introduction to all aspects of government and politics in this seventh edition. Written by some of the foremost experts on Irish politics, it explains, analyses and interprets the background to Irish government and contemporary political processes. It devotes chapters to every aspect of contemporary Irish government and politics, including the political parties and elections, the constitution, deliberative democracy, referendums, the Taoiseach and the governmental system, women and politics, the position of the Dáil, and Ireland’s place within the European Union. Bringing readers up to date with the very latest developments, especially with the upheaval in the Irish party system and the implications of recent liberalising referendums, the seventh edition combines substance with a highly readable style, providing an accessible book that meets the needs of all those who are interested in knowing how politics and government operate in Ireland.

Building on the success of the first two editions, Politics in the Republic of Ireland continues to provide an authoritative introduction to all aspects of politics in the Irish Republic.

This new edition has been revised and updated to include coverage of the 1997 general election, the creation of a new coalition of Fianna Fail, and the Progressive Democrats under Bertie Ahern. Reflecting on current developments in Irish politics, the authors also examine other crucial issues such as the implications of a written constitution, changes in the party system, the power of major special interest groups, the role of the civil service, the position of the media, and membership in the European Union.

Politics in Ireland is the first major text to provide an accessible and systematic analysis of the politics of Ireland: North as well as South. With the development of a new Northern Irish political system and increasing links across the island, the authors argue that the time is ripe to study together the two polities, which share so much of a common history but which have had very different evolutions through the 20th century. Drawing upon an exceptionally wide range of sources and their own original research, the authors deploy a thematic approach to the study of political institutions, political behaviour and public policy in both the Republic and Northern Ireland in order to produce a detailed, but highly readable, assessment of governance and politics in both political systems. This approach enables them both to outline the differences and similarities between the polities and to explain how they relate to the wider world, in particular to the UK and to Europe.

Brings together academics and practitioners to present an overview of the development and current shape of political communication in the Republic of Ireland from a multiplicity of perspectives and sources.

The third edition of Government and Politics in Ireland has been updated to take account of the political developments that have taken place in Ireland between 1981 and 1991. Amongst the topics covered are political parties, pressure groups, the government and the Dail and local government.

Democratic Left was a small political party which was organised primarily in the Irish Republic but also in Northern Ireland for just short of seven years in the 1990s. Formed out of a split in the Workers' Party in early 1992, Democratic Left was formally disbanded in January 1999 following a merger agreement with the Labour Party. The party - which was led by Proinsais De Rossa, Pat Rabbitte, Eamon Gilmore and Liz McManus - participated in the 1994-97 Rainbow coalition involving Fine Gael and Labour. This book explores the emergence of Democratic Left out of the crisis in communism and the fall of the Berlin Wall as well as continued allegations about their involvement in Official IRA criminality. Issues of ideology and identity, party organisation and political funding are examined in this major study which offers a unique and revealing insight in how politics operates in Ireland today. The book is based on access to internal Democratic Left documentation and papers, and interviews with all leading party members and other figures including Eoghan Harris, Sean Garland, John Bruton and Ruairi Quinn.

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject Politics - Region: Western Europe, grade: 70%, 1,5, Dublin City University, course: Introduction to Modern Ireland, language: English, abstract: Tom Garvin introduces his book “The Evolution of Irish Nationalist Politics” from 2005 with the following appraisal: “The political parties of the Irish Republic are somewhat exotic entities. The country’s party system, and its style of popular politics in general, are untypical of Western liberal democracies in many ways.” He is proved right when looking at the classical political model and Ireland’s party structure. The general political spectrum that “divides political ideologies on the basis of their beliefs” is not applicable to the Irish political landscape. One can neither find a clearly left-wing nor a genuine right-wing party. Instead, two big and nearly equal conservative parties prevail: Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. For many years these parties dominate the Dáil winning together over 50% of the seats every election. Since their foundation in the early 20th century the parties share basically the same political platform and represent therefore just an alternative to each other. The Irish population constantly favoured centre-right politics and consequently other political camps were generally left by the roadside: in 2007, for instance, the Labour Party and the Green Party together won only 26 out of 166 seats. Another factor for Ireland’s flat political landscape is the lack of cleavages within the Irish society. Not only due to “exceptional ethnic and religious uniformity, [...] [based on] the role of the Catholic Church in social and political life” but also due to Ireland’s late industrialisation, traditional and homogeneous voting was and still is more influential than in other western democracies. The three factors, introduced above and explained in detail below, are not the exclusive reasons for Ireland’s unique political landscape. Instead, the whole party structure matured over the past 100 years. It is therefore important to regard the process as a whole, to better understand the evolution of the current situation.

While the type of small political party In Ireland has varied, their fate, it seems, has not. Although some enjoy a brief time in the sun, termination is the long-term prospects for all minor parties. The usual pattern is a speedy ascent, an impact on the political system including a time in government, followed by a prolonged termination. This book examines this pattern of evolution for minor, or small, parties in Irish politics. As the Irish state has changed, so too have the types of parties that have emerged. With the first-time entry of the Greens into government in 2007, their wipeout in 2011, the termination of the Progressive Democrats in 2009, and the failure of a new party to emerge despite the on-going financial crisis, the time is ripe for this analysis.