The Rise and Fall of Minor Parties in Ireland

Abstract

A BSTRACT Minor parties (defined as those outside the three-party core of the party system) have been a distinctive feature of Irish political life since independence in 1922. Of the approximately 50 such parties to appear since then, though, only a few have become politically relevant, and even these parties have tended to go through a short life cycle. This paper describes the profile of parties of this kind, seeking to place Irish minor parties in categories that have emerged in the comparative literature, and classifying them in respect of origin, electoral performance, strategic self-placement, and ideological orientation. The paper concludes with an effort to explain the rise and fall of minor parties in Ireland in the light of generalisations in the comparative literature, where institutional factors (including, but not confined to, the electoral system) and social psychological considerations (including in particular the issues of declining party identification and disillusionment with existing parties) have played a particular role.

Minor Parties in Irish Political Life: An Introduction

“…Does the Irish experience of minor parties fall in line with comparative patterns? The two opening papers, by Weeks (2010) and Coakley (2010), and the final paper by Clark (2010) tackle these issues. All three complement each other and are necessary reading to understand the context of the other papers in this issue.…”

“…For reasons of inclusivity, the lower boundary of this definition is loosened for cases of analysis within the Irish political system. Thus, Coakley (2010), for example, includes all minor parties (and even some groups that have an ambiguous party status) that fall below the 1.5 per cent threshold. To warrant consideration for inclusion in this volume, Weeks (2010) ultimately defines the boundaries of interest as the nonpermanent (or 'ephemeral') members of the Irish party system, or what Coakley (2010: 506) more specifically labels the 'non-traditional, non-established, and non-mainstream'.…”

“…The first of these issues is what we mean by minor, or perhaps why we call these parties minor. As Coakley (2010) notes, this concerns identifying two boundaries: the upper boundary separates minor from major while the lower involves differentiating genuine minor parties from independent candidates. He provides a general discussion on the ambiguity concerning a definition of minor parties, although there is a broader discussion concerning size that is referred to by Clark (2010) and McDaid and Rekawek (2010), namely, does minor imply small?…”

“…When does an independent become a party? These definitional issues are addressed by Coakley (2010) and Murphy (2010). While the differences between a 'major minor' party such as the Progressive Democrats, an interest group (such as the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child) and an independent candidate are quite considerable, it could be suggested they are all part of the same evolutionary process.…”

“…Coakley (2010) takes an overview of all minor parties since 1922, providing a necessary classification under several taxa. In the fourth general paper, O'Malley (2010) considers the consequences for minor parties of their participation in government.…”