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This chapter brings together and examines arguments that attempt to establish a right of the Irish people to a united, independent thirty-two-county Irish state. It distinguishes between three different kinds of argument. First, there are arguments which take for granted that achieving a united independent thirty-two-county Irish state has intrinsic value. These arguments reached their zenith in the view expressed most passionately by Patrick Pearse, who considered the Irish nation to be a mystical entity. Second, there are arguments that treat the establishment of a united independent thirty-two-county Irish state as the necessary precondition for achieving something else of fundamental value. Third, procedural arguments attempt to justify the establishment of a united independent thirty-two-county Irish state democratically by arguing that such a state should exist simply because it represents the democratically expressed will of the people of Ireland.

This chapter examines the aspects of the traditional republican world view. The Provisional IRA's armed struggle was embedded in, and drew moral confidence from, an ideology according to which that struggle was absolutely necessary; blood sacrifice and martyrdom were ennobling, spiritually efficacious acts; and ultimate victory was assured. Despite the historical centrality of a belief in the efficacy of blood sacrifice and martyrdom, such acts were neither as obviously efficacious nor nearly as common as traditional republican ideology would suggest. Throughout the evolution of the republican movement, however, one thing has remained constant: an unwavering belief in the inalienable right of the Irish people to an independent, united Ireland, free from British control.

This chapter examines how and when the Irish Free State went from partial to full political decolonization. It argues that Collins’s stepping-stone theory of the Treaty of 1921 would be proved correct, but that de Valéra and Childers and their allies also correctly observed the deficiencies of that treaty. The fate of southern Protestants is examined. The wilder allegations of genocide and ethnic expulsion are demonstrated to be without merit; their twentieth-century story is mostly one of integration and assimilation. Fianna Fáil’s program of constitutional transformation is traced and its significance for Northern Ireland evaluated. The Irish Free State’s state-building and consolidation of its sovereignty were diplomatic accomplishments of both Cumann na nGaedheal and Fianna Fáil governments. The program of Irish state-building clashed with the aspirations behind all-Ireland nation-building. The “economic war” of the 1930s and the Anglo-Irish Agreements of 1938 are surveyed, before the decisions of de Valéra’s cabinet regarding neutrality in the Second World War and the supposed British offer of reunification are interpreted for their long-run significance for Northern Ireland.

During the 1970s, Northern Ireland was not only blighted by violent conflict, but also severe social and economic disadvantage. However, socio-economic issues are neglected in much existing literature on Northern Ireland during this period. This chapter examines the policies of the Executive when it took office in January 1974. How policy was formulated in key areas such as job creation and education is analysed, and placed in a broader context of developments in the British and World economies at the time. The chapter illustrates that unionist and nationalist parties had markedly similar approaches to social and economic policy formulation. Tensions within the Executive, and between it and the civil service, are examined to assess if these restricted policy formulation. The chapter also demonstrates the Executive's awareness of potential constraints on its ability to implement its programme for government, due to a global economic slowdown during this time.

This chapter dovetails with and responds to Roy Foster’s recent research on Ireland’s revolutionary generation. In essence, it contrasts the expected futures of these children of the revolution with their lived realities and considers in what ways their hopes and expectations (and those of their parents) fell short. The chapter explores the political tensions that arose from these children’s ‘subversive’ activities in the years after independence, and the difficulty the state encountered in confronting them. It also reflects on their position as liminal figures in the new Ireland—ones that were directly linked to the sacrifices which established the state, but in many cases were outside the political mainstream.

This chapter brings together the various strands of analysis offered in the book and offers a wide ranging commentary on the issues raised and the new information and arguments presented. It returns to the political theorists referenced throughout the work and outlines a series of new ideas for the study of the Irish Parliamentary Party. It offers broader discussion of the place of this phase of history within wider Irish and British history and asks how the history of parliamentary politics should be viewed in relation to the Irish revolution and also in the context of explaining the evolution of post-independence politics through the prism of Ireland’s longer constitutional tradition. It ends with a discussion of the successes and failures of the Irish party, contribution to the substantial literature on the party’s decline and fall. It terminates with a discussion of the closed shop practices and model of succession in the IPP and its leadership.