“As long as Ireland is unfree, the only attitude for Irishmen and Irishwomen is an attitude of revolt”:
The Armalite, the ballot box, and the shifting politics of Irish republicanism, c.1970-c.1994

Abstract

This dissertation engages an extensive historiography in addressing two central areas of research. Chapter 1 assesses the qualitative nature of republican politics across the period in question, considering the changing place of the politics of civil rights, socialism, feminism, and populism in republican politics, and assessing how republicanism varied across a heterogeneous social geography. To this end, the dissertation analyses factors informing the framing of political allegiance. Chapter 2 analyses the complex place of republicanism within broader societal politics, with particular reference to republicanism’s interactions with the Catholic Church, alternative political parties and groupings, and nationalist communities themselves. The thesis also addresses the issue of political hegemony, questioning the extent to which republican politics were moulded and transformed by the wider communities in which they existed, making a distinction between leadership and rank-and-file, cognisant of the contested nature of political directives within organisations.