Political Ideology in Ireland From the Enlightenment to the Present

First delivered as part of an international conference held at Brest University in November 2007â "under the aegis of the Centre de Recherche Bretonne et Celtique (CRBC)â ", this collection of essays essentially aims at interrogating history in order to better understand the political and ideological complexity of early XXIst-century Ireland. This complexity reflects, in many respects, Irelandâ (TM)s uniqueness among the Western European nations. Some of the multiple persuasions within the gamut of Irish political ideology, from the Enlightenment to the present, are thus explored from diverse angles of approachâ "dialectical, taxonomic, theoretical, practical, individual, collectiveâ ", and through a diverse range of disciplinesâ "human sciences, political science, social sciences, literature, philosophy and art historyâ "and themesâ "from Jonathan Swiftâ (TM)s rhetorical complexity to the evolution of Irish republicanism after 9/11, including the reassessment of Daniel Oâ (TM)Connellâ (TM)s political ideology, Owenism in Ireland, Oscar Wildeâ (TM)s socialistic ideology, the ideological development of the Republican and Loyalist prisonersâ ]This unique collection of essays, far from being a static historiographical description, provides food for thought and sheds light on the fascinating ambivalent dynamics lying at the heart of the building process of a modern nation resulting from the aggregate of individual will, collective ideals and Zeitgeist. The impressive variety of issues raised by authors of diverse origins (United States, Ireland, Britain, France), including leading experts in the above-mentioned areas (Richard English, Robert Mahony, Jonathan Tonge, Kieran Allen, John Sloan, Christopher Murray, Vincent Geogheganâ ]), therefore, widely contributes to the fact that the present book will be intellectually stimulating and enlightening, at least as an introduction, for all the students and scholars of Irish studies and other related disciplines.