Parties in Ireland

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 don’t 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 party’s 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– But in latter decades all seek wide appeal, cluster in centre – examples

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, don’t 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?’

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 Fail’s 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– More suited to coalitions with Labour and other left parties

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– 10 changes of Government, 10 changes of Government leadership 19 37-1997, but key economic policies

pursued with striking consistency (examples)– Increasingly same stability re policy around Northern Ireland; also moral issues, largely settled, less divisive

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

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 1982—1 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

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

Factors affecting allegiance to/support for parties

• Parental voting history strongly influence voting/support behavior of “I’m 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 voter’s social and demographic backgrounds, rather than their policy preference, that have the biggest impact on party choice