Sean McGraw

Managing Change: Party Competition in the New Ireland

Abstract Ireland represents a useful case for studying political parties and their strategies as independent variables. In a context of unprecedented social and economic change, party leaders have demonstrated unusual organisational creativity in adopting strategies to manage the political consequences of these changes. While the potential for new issues, cleavages and parties surely exists in this changing environment, and while elections have been hotly contested in the recent era of increasing floating voters and declining party membership, the traditional political parties have maintained their overall electoral dominance through it all. They have done so by systematically removing potentially contentious issues from the domain of electoral politics. This article is about political agency, focusing on the strategic choices of political party entrepreneurs. The current Irish party literature’s emphasis on electoral outcomes fails to appreciate sufficiently the various ways parties adopt strategies along electoral, ideological and organisational dimensions. As a result, the recent literature has understated longer term continuity present in the patterns of party competition.

Ideological Flexibility and Electoral Success: An Analysis of Irish Party Competition

Abstract This article argues that Irelands major party elites enjoy an unusual degree of ideological flexibility, which in turn provides the parties with an uncommon capacity to adjust programmatically when changing electoral opportunities, or challenges, present themselves. Evidence from two originally designed parliamentary surveys, conducted in sharply different contexts in the 2007 and 2011 elections, supports this finding. A closer examination of individual TDs’ policy positions reveals that TDs possess considerable flexibility to adapt their policy appeals. Although parties may appear programmatically similar at the aggregate level, the high degree of internal ideological heterogeneity reinforces that the autonomy individual TDs have to alter their positions within their local electoral context. These findings point to a conclusion that the presence of a high degree of ideological flexibility, especially at the level of individual TDs, not policy positions in themselves, is critical for understanding electoral politics in Ireland. This conclusion stands in contrast to the popular perspective that competition over policy may alter the nature of party competition in Ireland. The findings also provide a deeper appreciation of how Irish parliamentarians are able to assume policy positions among their constituents that often differ from the party line in legislative votes in parliament.

Fianna Fáil: the glue of ambiguity

‘Remember also that it is nearly impossible to translate the words “Fianna Fail”,’ Mr De Valera said with a smile. ‘There is some advantage in that also.’ (McInerney, 1976)Fianna Fail, for many, is...

Independents in Irish democracy

Morrison, and Tom Hartley were responsible for shifting the Provisional movement to the left in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but no elaboration is offered (pp. 163–164). Situating the Provisionals’ move away from political violence to constitutionalism as part of a wider phase of decline and adaptation for movements such as the Red Brigades, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, and Palestine Liberation Organisation, White’s assertion that ‘the Irish case shows that, with enough time, even radicals will choose to become moderates’ lacks elucidation (p. 390). White is courageous in his attempts to unravel divisions within the Provisional movement. Discussing the split over Dublin abstentionism in 1986, the author conceives of four subgroups within the movement: northerners and southerners, and those who joined the republican movement before and after 1969 (pp. 229– 236). Such a discussion is not without value, of course, but also provokes further questions as to the differences between urban and rural republicanism, for instance, and the preand post-1969 categories are somewhat unwieldy. How did the mobilisation process differ through the 25 years of conflict which followed 1969? White’s close attention to the make-up of the SF Ard Chomhairle and PIRA leadership is helpful (pp. 150–151, 230, 280), but it remains for scholars to investigate further grassroots Provisional responses to discussions within this remarkable social movement. Both of these books advance social movement-oriented inquiries into Northern Ireland’s Troubles. Highlighting the variegated quality of social movements in Northern Ireland, in an international arena in which political ideologies are transferred, transmuted, and repackaged for divergent publics, these books suggest fruitful lines of enquiry for subsequent scholars interested in the heterogeneity of social movements operating in the tumult of the Irish conflict.

How catchall parties compete ideologically: Beyond party typologies: HOW CATCHALL PARTIES COMPETE IDEOLOGICALLY

The catchall party remains a useful concept despite the lack of a widely agreed definition or list of parties. This article suggests defining catchall parties based on how they act strategically. Although catchall parties act strategically on both the organisational and ideological dimensions, this article concentrates on three key ideological features: catchall parties are ideologically centrist, dispersed and flexible over time. Relying on original surveys in the Republic of Ireland, which interviewed two‐thirds of parliamentarians, it is confirmed that Irelands ‘catchall’ and ‘programmatic’ parties clearly differ in terms of how they compete ideologically. Irelands catchall parties employ all three identified strategies. Smaller, more programmatic parties are consistent over time, non‐centrist and extremely ideologically coherent on core programmatic issues. The competition between catchall parties and ideological populist parties is a pressing issue, and the Irish case provides new theoretical insights and empirical evidence to understand these party types.

Fianna Fáil: the art of adaptive survival

ABSTRACT For over eight decades, Fianna Fáil demonstrated a remarkable capacity for successful adaptation to cope with a turbulent and increasingly uncertain electoral environment. Unlike many dominant parties that rely principally on state resources to bolster their organizational reach, Fianna Fáil has demonstrated a knack for adapting to challenges in more nuanced and variegated ways to reinforce its long-term advantages within the Irish party system. This article highlights two overarching strategic adaptations, in particular. First, it underscores how Fianna Fáil’s capacity for ideological adaptation has contributed to constraining the electoral arena, thereby preventing minor parties from successfully claiming hot-button issues and instead re-directing competition towards the their party’s relative ability to deliver goods and services locally. Second, it places in high relief Fianna Fail’s capacity to employ extra-parliamentary institutional adaptations within the Irish political system, including the national system of wage bargaining, referenda, and tribunals at times when it suits the party electorally. Taking into account these adaptive strategies is essential for understanding Fianna Fáil’s uncanny electoral staying power.