Socialism, national identities and post‐nationalist citizenship

Abstract

This article examines the problems socialism has experienced in its relationships with nationalism and national identities. These problems are grouped under the headings of universalism and particularism. It uses historical material, much of it drawn from Ireland, to illustrate these problems. It examines, for example, the emergence of socialism in the Ireland of the 1830s and 1840s, and the socialist republicanism of James Connolly. It argues, not for a socialist nationalism, but for a radical post‐nationalist citizenship in which national identity is detached from nationalism.

Notes

Earlier versions of this paper were delivered at the Third Conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas, Aalborg University, Denmark, 1992, and at the ECPR Joint Sessions, Leiden University, The Netherlands, 1993. The author would like to thank the session organisers, David Lovell and Anne Phillips, and the other participants for very useful criticism. He would also like to acknowledge the criticisms of his colleagues in the Department of Politics at Queen's University, as well as those of Michael Marsh and the two anonymous referees.