Analyses the growing political influence of Sinn Féin and its place in the globally resurgent democratic left.

Containing interviews with key figures, such as Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, The New Sinn Féin is essential reading for anyone with an interest in Irish politics, and the republican movement in particular.

This is the first comprehensive analysis of how Sinn Féin has transformed itself from ‘political wing’ of the Republican movement to a mainstream force in Irish politics. In this book by one of Ireland’s leading political journalists, Deaglán de Bréadún provides an incisive account of how the party has arrived at a position, in the space of one generation, where it is in power north of the border and knocking on the door of government in the south. Despite recent controversies and scandals arising from alleged sexual abuse by republican activists, and the violent legacies of the Troubles, the party has maintained its popularity. The outsiders have now become insiders in the political game. How did this dramatic transformation come about? Based on detailed research as well as interviews with a wide range of figures inside Sinn Féin and across the Irish political spectrum, Deaglán de Bréadún unveils a fascinating and indispensable analysis of a party that has come in from the cold. The book also draws on the author’s experiences covering the Northern Ireland peace process as well as politics in the Republic for many years, to reveal the most fascinating and unmissable political story of 2015.

Sinn Féin (“ourselves” or “we ourselves”) began innocuously enough, at least in etymology, when founder Arthur Griffith asked the publishers of an Oldcastle paper if he might use their name for a new political party that he was setting up. Since that 1905 founding, however, and through its journey from revolutionary movement to potential political partner in the state it was pledged to destroy, the modern political meaning of Sinn Féin reflects a contradictory and tension-heavy history of Irish republicanism. The New Politics of Sinn Féin is a powerful and revealing assessment of the ideological and organizational development of provisional republicanism since 1985. The first half of the volume chronicles the processes of change that transformed the republican movement from its revolutionary origins to its current role as a civic and legislative power, while the second half explores the ideological implications of this transition. Arguing that the political movement remains a site of contestation between elements of the universal and the particular, Kevin Bean looks especially to the tensions between civic and ethnic conceptions of identity and the nation as a way to define Sinn Féin in its current incarnation—making this an essential volume for anyone concerned with the contemporary state of Irish politics.

A political history of the SDLP and Sinn Féin, from the onset of The Troubles in 1970 to the present day. It outlines the ideological and electoral rivalry between the two parties and assesses the contribution of both to the reshaping of modern nationalist politics in Northern Ireland. Drawing on interviews with prominent Sinn Féin members, the authors examine the dynamics of Republican politics since 1970, explaining why armed struggle was replaced by electoral politics, and why Sinn Féin is likely to consolidate its position as the primary representative of Northern Ireland's nationalists.

A devout young boy in rural Ohio, Andrew Evans had his life mapped for him: baptism, mission, Brigham Young University, temple marriage, and children of his own. But as an awkward gay kid, bullied and bored, he escaped into the glossy pages of National Geographic and the wide promise of the world atlas. The Black Penguin is Evans's memoir, travel tale, and love story of his eventual journey to the farthest reaches of the map, a wild yet touching adventure across some of the most astonishing landscapes on Earth. Ejected from church and shunned by his family as a young man, Evans embarks on an ambitious overland journey halfway across the world. Riding public transportation, he crosses swamps, deserts, mountains, and jungles, slowly approaching his lifelong dream and ultimate goal: Antarctica. With each new mile comes laughter, pain, unexpected friendship, true weirdness, unsettling realities, and some hair-raising moments that eventually lead to a singular discovery on a remote beach at the bottom of the world. Evans's 12,000-mile voyage becomes a soulful quest to balance faith, family, and self, reminding us that, in the end, our lives are defined by the roads we take, the places we touch, and those we hold nearest.

An analysis of the political organisation of Irish republicanism after the Easter Rising of 1916, studying the triumphant but short-lived Sinn Féin party which vanquished its enemies, co-operated uneasily with its military allies, and 'democratised' the anti-British campaign. Its successors have dominated the politics of independent Ireland.

A biography and analysis of the influential Irish political and military leader. At his death in 2013, Ruairí Ó Brádaigh remained a divisive and influential figure in Irish politics and the Irish Republican movement. He was the first person to serve as chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army, as president of the political party Sinn Féin, and to have been elected, as an abstentionist, to the Dublin parliament. He was a prominent, uncompromising, and articulate spokesperson of those Irish Republicans who questioned the peace process in Northern Ireland. His concern was rooted in his analysis of Irish history and his belief that the peace process would not achieve peace. He believed that it would support the continued partition of Ireland and result in continued, inevitable, conflict. The child of Irish Republican veterans, Ó Brádaigh led IRA raids, was arrested and interned, escaped and lived “on the run,” and even spent a period on a hunger strike. Because he was an effective spokesman for the Irish Republican cause, he was at different times excluded from Northern Ireland, Britain, the United States, and Canada. He was also a key figure in the secret negotiation of a bilateral IRA-British truce in the mid-1970s. In a brief afterword for this new edition, author Robert W. White addresses Ó Brádaigh’s continuing influence on the Irish Republican Movement, including the ongoing “dissident” campaign. Whether for good or bad, this ongoing dissident activity is a part of Ruairí Ó Brádaigh’s enduring legacy. “A tour de force. Indispensable for all Irish studies collections. . . . Essential.” —Choice

Matthew Whiting explores Irish republicanism's transformation from violence to political power. He examines their electoral participation and engagement in democratic bargaining, the role of Irish-America and British government policy to argue that moderation was a long-term process of concessions in return for increased political inclusion.

This book examines the interrelated dynamics of political action, ideology and state structures in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, emphasising the wider UK and European contexts in which they are nested. It makes a significant and unique contribution to wider European and international debates over state and nation and contested borders, looking at the dialectic between political action and institutions, examining party politics, ideological struggle and institutional change. It goes beyond the binary approaches to Irish politics and looks at the deep shifts associated with major socio-political changes, such as immigration, gender equality and civil society activism. Interdisciplinary in approach, it includes contributions from across history, law, sociology and political science and draws on a rich body of knowledge and original research data. This text will be of key interest to students and scholars of Irish Politics, Society and History, British Politics, Peace and Conflict studies, Nationalism, and more broadly to European Politics.