Ireland : the politics of Independence, 1922-49

This volume sets out to examine the history of Ireland in the years following the Dail's ratification of independence from Britain in 1922. The different authors in the collection, all experts on different aspects of Irish history from the first half of the twentieth century, focus on a wide range of different themes. Considerations of the decline of Redmondite nationalism, the role of Unionism in the Free State, Party structures and organisation, the development of different forms of identity, the nature of economics and the place of the newly independent Ireland within the British Empire are all included. All chapters are either the result of new archival research or else offer a sustained historiographical critique of current thinking. Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction: Ireland and the Politics of Independence 1922–49, New Perspectives and Re-considerations....Pages 1-12 Ireland’s Last Home Rule Generation: The Decline of Constitutional Nationalism in Ireland, 1916–30....Pages 13-31 The Politics of Utopia: Party Organisation, Executive Autonomy and the New Administration....Pages 32-66 The Enigma of Fianna Fail: Party Strategy, Social Classes and the Politics of Hegemony....Pages 67-83 Socialist Republicanism in Independent Ireland, 1922–49....Pages 84-97 The Unpopular Front: Catholic Revival and Irish Cultural Identity, 1932–48....Pages 98-120 Social Catholicism and the Social Question in Independent Ireland: The Challenge to the Fiscal System....Pages 121-143 Golden Dreams, Harsh Realities: Economics and Informal Empire in the Irish Free State....Pages 144-163 New Ireland, Old Empire and the Outside World, 1922–49: The Strange Evolution of a ‘Dictionary Republic’....Pages 164-216 Trinity College Dublin and the New Political Order....Pages 217-231 Back Matter....Pages 233-237 "This book offers a series of essays in post-revolutionary settlement in independent Ireland. They address central themes such as the nature of party mobilisation and the development of foreign and economic policy within the context of Anglo-Irish and Commonwealth relations." "However, the volume's broad focus also includes the often overlooked losers within the new order - the pre-revolutionary unionists and nationalist elites - and those, like the advocates of Catholic Action and social republicanism, who failed to access or influence the politics of the emergent Irish state after 1922. The book contributes to our understanding of the meaning of independence in modern Ireland."--Jacket Irish society at the end of the twentieth century is still engaged in an ongoing debate with a revolutionary settlement from which it is only now beginning to emerge. This series of thought-provoking essays on post-revolutionary settlement in independent Ireland addresses central themes and offers sustained historiographical critiques of current thinking. The aim of the volume is to revisit existing debates within the context of new and broader research interests to contribute to our understanding of the meaning of independence in modern Ireland