The political consequences of culture change: The case of Ireland

This dissertation develops a culturally derived theory of political change and employs the Republic of Ireland as case study to test this theory. This single case study contributes to existing theory in the fields of World and Comparative Politics by the examining the political consequences of culture change in one of the earliest postcolonial polities. Previous research in the field has attempted to decipher an economic basis to Irish politics and to the study of political change in general. My theoretical approach focuses on the cultural origins of Irish politics and political change. Like many societies in the Third World, nationalism, socio-economic change, the forces of religion and secularization, and the Western dominant international culture have interacted to alter political culture in the Irish context. These societal forces explain the change that has occurred in individual level values in Ireland. They also explain the development of the Irish political system since independence, the changing foreign policy orientation of the Irish, and the evolution of the Irish party system.