Tactic or Principle? The Evolution of Republican Thinking on Abstentionism in Ireland, 1970-1998

Abstract

This article considers the nature of a debate that has evolved within modern republicanism on the question of abstentionism. The outcome of this is something we are all familiar with in that republican representatives now sit in parliamentary bodies and institutions that have traditionally been viewed as symbolising the partition of Ireland. As for the significance of this change in approach it is something more than how it has often been portrayed as highlighting a new direction, new thinking or the question of who leads the republican movement but, crucially, is an example of how the process of change is managed and conducted.