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Irish Political Culture

This kind of a circular cause-and-effect pattern reveals the true nature of the influence political culture and system have on each other. They are entwined together and do not exist on their own.
             The Republic of Ireland became an industrialised state relatively late and has only recently moved away from an agricultural society to a more modern, Western industrial society. This socio- economic change has seen people becoming wealthier, concentrated in cities, and the dramatic decline of farming and the agricultural way of life. The rise and consolidation of the middle class is one of the reasons for the political stability in Ireland. As the educational level has climbed and a much wider range of career choice become available (Coakley 1992 : 36-38), there has been a clear dip in such recognised values of Irish political culture as anti-intellectualism and authoritarianism. This has had a conspicuous impact on the political system. The funds spent on farming have declined as people cannot tolerate the over-funding and subsidisation of something that so clearly has become a symbol of old times though only a few years ago the whole agricultural sector was very much prioritised in the budget (Breen, Hannan, Rottman & Whelan 1990: 5). .
             One characteristic of the old agrarian society has survived into the changed post-Celtic Tiger Ireland. Conservatism is still very much a defining element of the political culture. The two biggest parties, Fianna Fail and Fine Gael are both slightly right-wing and practise conservative politics. The word describing the essence of these parties" politics would be pragmatism. New trends and ideas are taken in slowly and with the kind of suspicion people had for everything different in agricultural society. This element continues to endure because of the slowness of change in opinions and values and the stable middle class as previously mentioned.
             Great Britain has probably had the most significant effect on Irish political culture both directly and indirectly.


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