A Changed Irish Nationalism? The Significance of the Good Friday Agreement of 1998
EUROPE'S OLD STATES AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER: THE POLITICS OF TRANSITION IN BRITAIN, FRANCE AND SPAIN, pp. 121-145, . Ruane, J. Todd, A. Mandeville, eds., Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2003
25 Pages Posted: 26 Jul 2012
Date Written: January 10, 2003
Abstract
The 1998 Agreement in Northern Ireland raises important questions about the nature of contemporary Irish nationalism, which have comparative import. Has its intensity abated to become a moderate and pragmatic post-sovereigntist nationalism akin to that of (say) Scotland or Catalonia,flexible on matters of ultimate sovereignty? Perhaps the change is deeper again – a shift beyond nationalism altogether to post-nationalism ? Or is the explanation altogether simpler, and less reassuring to those who wish to see an end to nationalism: there has been no fundamental change in Irish nationalism – in a changed situation, the Agreement is simply a new way of pursuing traditional nationalist goals. This chapter assesses the different interpretations by analysis of the text of the Agreement, party political discourse and public opinion.
Keywords: nationalism, post nationalism, post sovereigntism, Northern Ireland, Good Friday Agreement
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