The re‐equilibration of democracy in inter‐war Ireland

Bibliographic Data

ID6254363
AuthorsBill Kissane (0000-0002-0371-7889, London School of Economics and Political Science, corresponding author)
Year1999
Volume6
Issue3
Pages190-210
Publication date1999-09-01
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueDemocratization (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1351-0347 • E-ISSN: 1743-890X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13510349908403627
OpenAlexW2000539944
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited7

This article examines the process of democratic stabilization in inter‐war Ireland. The Irish case is a classic example of what Linz calls re‐equilibration. Re‐equilibration is a political process that, following a crisis which has seriously endangered democratic institutions, results in their continued existence at the same or higher levels of effectiveness and legitimacy. The contention of the article is that the Fianna Fáil party's transformation of the democratic institutions of the Irish Free State in the 1930s constituted a case of democratic re‐equilibration, whereby the institutions of independent Ireland were given a greater degree of effectiveness and legitimacy. Indeed, since the main Irish parties had only recently been involved in a civil war, the Irish example could well be the classic case of re‐equilibration this century. The analysis of democratic re‐equilibration between 1922 and 1937 focuses on the Fianna Fáil party's transformation from being a semi‐loyal opposition party to being a party of government, emphasizing the impact on those political actors who remained hostile to the existence of the Free State

Civil society · Democracy · Irish · Legitimacy · Opposition (politics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · State (computer science · Irish and British Studies · Law

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