Party Politics in a New Democracy

This book offers a timely, and fresh historical perspective on the politics of independent Ireland. Interwar Irelands politics have been caricatured as an anomaly, with the distinction between Fianna Fil and Fine Gael bewildering political commentators and scholars alike. It is common for Irelands politics to be presented as an anomaly that compare unfavourably to the neat left/right cleavages evident in Britain and much of Europe. By offering an historical re-appraisal of the Irish Free States politics, anchored in the wider context of inter-war Europe, Mel Farrell argues that the Irish party system is not unique in having two dominant parties capable of adapting to changing circumstances, and suggests that this has been a key strength of Irish democracy. Moreover, the book challenges the tired clich of Civil War Politics by demonstrating that events subsequent to Civil War led the Fine Gael/Fianna Fil cleavage dominant in the twentieth-century.