Democracy and Dissent in the Irish Free State

Analysis of the conflict between multiparty democratic norms and sweeping monolithic nationalist movements in the aftermath of the Irish revolution. Democracy and dissent analyses the difficulties surrounding the establishment of a democracy in postrevolutionary and postcolonial Ireland. It focuses particularly on the problems in normalising opposition as something other than divisive, dangerous and helpful to the colonial power. It illustrates the collision between nineteenth-century monolithic nationalist movements with the norms and expectations of multiparty parliamentary democracy.The heirs of Sinn Féin repeatedly attempted to build or rebuild national movements and delegitimise opposition as anti-national or non-Irish. The smaller parties – the Farmers’ and Labour parties, as well as the National League – sought to break the unnatural dominance of nationalist issues and to create a politics that reflected left-right splits that were perceived as normal in other European countries. The initial attempt to decolonise the state and break with British traditions was crucial in fomenting the tensions between multiparty democracy and nationalist solidarity, and this volume argues that anticolonialism was a key factor in Irish nationalism generally and in the Irish revolution more specifically. Democracy and dissent vividly interrogates the difficulties in creating a Gaelic state that would be democratic, pluralistic, and nationalist, and will appeal to anyone working in modern Irish history. A new analysis of the difficulties in normalising opposition in the Irish Free State, this book analyses the collision between nineteenth-century monolithic nationalist movements with the norms and expectations of multiparty parliamentary democracy. The Irish revolutionaries’ attempts to create a Gaelic, postcolonial state involved resolving tension between these two ideas. Smaller economically-driven parties such as the Labour and Farmers’ parties attempted to move on from the revolution’s unnatural focus on nationalist political issues while the larger revolutionary parties descended from Sinn Féin attempt to recreate or restore notions of revolutionary unity. This conflict made democracy and opposition hard to establish in the Irish Free State.

A new analysis of the difficulties in normalising opposition in the Irish Free State, this book analyses the collision between nineteenth-century monolithic nationalist movements with the norms and expectations of multiparty parliamentary democracy. The Irish revolutionaries’ attempts to create a Gaelic, postcolonial state involved resolving tension between these two ideas. Smaller economically-driven parties such as the Labour and Farmers’ parties attempted to move on from the revolution’s unnatural focus on nationalist political issues while the larger revolutionary parties descended from Sinn Féin attempt to recreate or restore notions of revolutionary unity. This conflict made democracy and opposition hard to establish in the Irish Free State.