Parties in Ireland

1
Parties in Ireland
2
Exceptionalism of Ireland re Party System and
Competition

• Recall, from first lecture, history of
  disagreement over Anglo-Irish Treaty, 1921 and
  then Civil War 1922-23 (De Valera, Michael
  Collins- movie and The Wind that Shakes the
  Barley)
• Main cleavages between parties stems from then
  Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Sinn Fein
• Cleavages in rest of Europe mainly around social
  class differences, struggles on lay/religious
  differences (French Revolution) but of Finland
• Ireland also exceptionally high of vote for
  parties of centre and right over 70 in two
  elections in the 1990s and low aggregate vote
  for parties of left typically, 20 in Ireland,
  compared with 45 in Western Europe
• Reflects social make-up of country in past but
  also stickiness of party patterns established
  at start
• Treaty/Civil War arguments long over as receded
  left 2 big parties free to evolve over time,
  reflecting changing political agendas
• Parties long clustered around the centre,
  swinging sometimes centre-left, sometimes centre
  right or occupying both positions at the same
  time
• Two main parties dont fit easily into usual
  academic categories or European political
  families such as social democrats, Christian
  democrats, liberals, far right
• Fianna Fail very hard to classify, found it hard
  to find a home in European Parliament
• Populist
• Nationalist
• Latterly, at once neo-liberal and socially
  populist (examples)
• Allied with French Gaullists in European
  parliament
• Fine Gael not really typical Christian Democrats
  in agenda Catholic Church in Ireland, powerful
  in own right, did not need such a partys support
• Labour must wait dominance for long time of
  national question and issue of were they
  sound on this (the national question)
• But even in two big parties there was some
  connection, at least in part, with economic
  categories
• Finna Fail Small farmers, new entrepreneurs,
  some urban workers in new industries or homes,
  protected petty bourgeois(i.e. teachers,
  policemen, job under state)
• Fine Gael big farmers, professionals,
  anglo-Irish, old money, haute bourgeoisie
• Labour workers in trade unions

3
Nature of Party Contestation

• Fine Gael in power 1922-1932, winners in Civil
  War, losers spent time sorting themselves out
  politically, Sinn Fein, split and formation of
  Fianna Fail 1926
• Dominance after 1932 of Fianna Fail average of
  45 of vote over 24 General Elections 1927-,
  almost without parallel in Western Europe
• Fianna Fail press for long on virtue of single
  party government stability and strength core
  value of no coalition, dont share power
• Polarization of political contestation around
  powerful Fianna Fail, not ABC but ABFF
• Narrow range of options available to Fine Gail
  and Labour- coalition governments of these two
  parties, sometimes plus others
• Periodic rise and fall of smaller parties, often,
  not always, related to national question
• More recent rise of Green Party and Progressive
  Democrats and now, fall of latter
• Departure after 1989 from Fianna Fail core value
  of no coalition swapped all of the power,
  most of the time, for more of the power all of
  the time
• Labour Party coalition government with Fianna
  Fail, 1993-1994
• Coalition governments now recurrent are all
  parties now coalitionable?

4
Policy Shifts, Change, Stability

• Fianna Fails 5 aims page 103, DEV
• Policy up to 1958
• Socially conservative
• Economically redistributioned within limits
• Self-sufficiency emphasis
• Latter continued too long after WWII, stagnation
• Shift, after 1958, to free trade, foreign
  investment, openness to wider world
• Rhetorical anti-partitionism up to outbreak of
  Northern troubles in 1968/1969 gradual shift
  thereafter, principle of consent, eventually
  dropping of Article 2 and 3 of Irish Constitution
• Fine Gael policy up to Garret Fitzgerald
• Emphasis on security of state (by Dev also)
• Fiscal and economic conservatism
• Distrust of Fianna Fails progressive policies
• Emphasis on importance of good Irish-British
  relations
• Fine Gael evolution under Garret Fitzgerald and
  Just Society departure (1967)
• More emphasis on economic and social equity
• More European orientation
• Earlier, easier acceptance of principle of
  consent- re North
• Improved organization, modernization
• Better electoral results

5
Policy Shifts, Change, Stability (cont)

• Emergence of Progressive Democrats
• Neo-liberal in economics
• Break with Fianna Fail on Northern Ireland policy
• Liberal on moral issue
• Influence on Fianna Fail evolution
• Varying fortune over time
• Now to be wound up
• Entry on Southern Scene of Sinn Fein
• Departure from additional policies, north and
  south
• Entry into Northern electoral politics, also
  Southern, around hunger-strike
• Electoral success in, first north, later South,
  encouraging along path of democratic politics
• Initial strong rise in South, now stalled at last
  election
• Modern party-e.g. Senator Pearce Doherty
• Entry and growth of Green Party
• Pan-European and wider movement
• Started out flakey but became serious politicians
• Example of evolution in Europe, especially
  Germany
• Evolution in Ireland, eventual entry into
  government in 2007
• Stability of main strands of policy across
  parties

6
Party Organization

• Parties formed in parliaments often have weak
  organizations
• E.g. Fine Gael until the late 1960s, a
  confederacy of _____, merchant prime
• Parties formed outside the system often have
  tight, extensive, effective organizations
• Fianna Fail a supreme example
• Formed in 1926, by 1928 had 1300 branches, in
  every parish in Ireland
• Today, in Dublin Central constituency, have 40
  branches of about 40 members each, people
  responsible for every ward, every street compare
  Sinn Fein, only 2 branches, one new
• Fianna Fail a way of life, from the cradle to the
  grave

7
Party Fortunes

• Fianna Fail
• _____ by 1932 when first took power as government
  whipped as low as 65 in 1954, went as high as 86
  in 1977 between 70-81 covers most results in 50
  years 1957-2007
• In government, 1932-48 1951-54 1957-1973
  1977-81 1987-1994 1997-2008. In power 57 out of
  86 years since state founded or 57 out of the 76
  years since it first took power
• Fine Gael
• 63 seats in 1923, 62 in 1927-32 down to 48 in
  1932, as low as 30 in 1944 and 31 in 1948, up to
  54 in 1973, then, under Garret Fitzgerald up to
  65 in 1981, 63 in 19821 and 70 in 1982-2 (only 5
  less that FF!) but back down to 51 in 1987 (after
  which Garret resigned as leader) back as very low
  as 31 in 2002 but back up to 48/50 in 2007
• In government, 1922-32 1948-51 1954-57
  1973-77 1981-1982 1982-87 1994-1997
• Labour
• 22 seats in 1927-1, as low as 7 in 1932 and 8 in
  1933, up to 19 in 1954 and 22 in 1965, down to 12
  in 1989 but up to 33 in 1992 (Spring Tide), back
  to 20 or so now
• In government 1948-51 1954-57 1973-77 1981-82
  1982-1987 1993-1997

8
Party Fortunes (cont)

• Progressive Democrats
• 14 seats in 1987 (first election since
  formation) 6 in 1992, 4 in 1997, 8 in 2002, 2 in
  2007 now being wound up
• Green Party
• In government 1989-92 1997-2008
• 1 seat in 1989 and 1992 2 in 1997 6 in 2002 and
  2008, third ___ party in Dublin, in seat held in
  government 2007-2008
• Workers Party
• Were up to 7 seats in 1989 but now none in Dáel
  party split, other side of split later joined
  with Labour party
• Clann na Poblachta
• 6 of 10 seats in 1948, gradually down to 1 in
  1968 when ceased to operate
• Farmers Parties
• 15 seats in 1923, 14 in 1943, 7 in 1948 for
  different parties, but down to 2 in 1961, before
  ceased
• Sinn Fein
• 2 seats in 1981, 5 in 2002, 4 in 2007
• Socialist Party
• 1 seat in 2002, none now
• The largest, civil war parties taken together
• During 1960s, Fine Fail and Fianna Gail between
  them took 80 of popular votes
• By 2002, down to 64 for their joint score

9
Factors affecting allegiance to/support for
parties

• Parental voting history strongly influence
  voting/support behavior of Im PC to the core!
• Age is a factor-younger voters more likely to
  support Sinn Fein or Green
• Some gender effect Sinn Fein more male party
  Green Party more female
• Social class an element
• In terms of household income, poorest supporters
  were those of Fine Fail, followed by those of
  Sein Fein, Fianna Gail and Labour, in that order.
  Party with the richest supporters was the Greens
• Slight manual worker bias in Fine Fail support,
  non-manual bias in support base of Labour,
  Progressive Democrats, Greens
• On spectrum from living in open country side to
  small town, then bigger town, then city, other
  than Dublin, than Dublin City, the Country Dublin
  suburbs, levels of Fine Fail and Fianna Gael
  support decline as we move from left to right
  across this spectrum for people living in open
  country, 76 support civil war parties, but in
  County Dublin, this falls to 44, less that the
  47 for more radical parties
• Church attendance is related to party support as
  levels of church attendance decline, supporters
  of civil war parties falls
• Fine Gael suffers more than Fianna Fail from the
  lack of support by more modern voters
• Counter-intuitively positions on major policy
  issues on left/right spectrum do not add much to
  sociological factors in explaining party support
  in Ireland, as elsewhere, it is voters social
  and demographic backgrounds, rather than their
  policy preference, that have the biggest impact
  on party choice