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Religion, National Identity and Political Change in Modern Ireland

This article presents a speculative account of the long-term impact of religion and ethnic identity, as mediated through electoral behaviour, on the political evolution of modern Ireland. As a social boundary marker, religion has a categorical character within the individual, modified by a 'fuzzy' character within spatial groupings. In the context of the island of Ireland, this is related to two politically significant phenomena: a continuing and complex pattern of Catholic-Protestant spatial polarisation, and a striking tendency for social status to have been substantially determined by religion. Ethnic categorisation is more problematic than religious denominational classification; subjective historical evidence suggests a very close relationship between religion and ethnic identity, but recent survey data confirm a much more complex pattern of overlapping ethnic identities. Electoral data from the 1880s to the 1990s confirm a highly unusual model of party political evolution in the island of Ireland, with religion and ethnic identity as powerful motive forces: from a comparative perspective, unparalleled stability in the north from 1885 to 1969 followed by egregious electoral rebellion since then, and unusual instability in the south from 1918 to 1922 followed by remarkable stability. The implications of these forms of political expression for the two Irish states are considered briefly.