How Irish Citizens Negotiate Foreign Policy

A Social Representations Approach to Neutrality

Bibliographic Data

ID6338598
AuthorsEmma O’dwyer (0000-0003-1226-0515, Kingston University London), Emma O'Dwyer, Evanthia Lyons (Kingston University London), J Christopher Cohrs (0000-0002-9477-1417, Jacobs University Bremen Germany)
Year2016
Volume37
Issue2
Pages165-181
Publication date2016-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolitical Psychology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0162-895X • E-ISSN: 1467-9221
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/pops.12242
OpenAlexW1540073140
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited57

The present study investigates the relationship between the foreign policy orientation of Irish neutrality and national identity using a social representations approach (Elcheroth, Doise, & Reicher, 2011; Moscovici, 1961/76). In four focus groups conducted in the Republic of Ireland, 22 participants discussed vignettes in which hypothetical conflicts were described. The findings pointed towards the dynamic relationship between neutrality and Irish national identity and more generally to the importance of macropolitical phenomena for identity construction. The process of categorization was key to participants' decision making regarding the hypothetical conflicts; the decision to support or oppose the Irish state's involvement in the conflicts frequently revolved around a reconsideration of the boundaries of the ingroup. Furthermore, social representations were laden with the possibility of social change; the construction of neutrality as morally ambivalent, motivated by pragmatism rather than principles, opened up a space for younger participants to resist dominant, pragmatic interpretations of the policy and offer alternatives. Theoretical and empirical implications of the findings are discussed. Taken together, the findings demonstrate the critical potential of extending a social representations approach to issues of political psychological significance

Ambivalence · Categorization · Economics · Epistemology · Identity (music · Irish · National identity · Negotiation · Neutrality · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Pragmatism · Social group · Social identity theory · Sociology · Cultural Differences and Values · Law · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology · Social Representations and Identity

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