The narrative of the Irish Nation

Abstract

This chapter looks at one of the earliest and arguably most powerful narratives in Irish foreign policy—that of the Irish Nation. With this narrative it is easily understood how and why Irish foreign policy has been frequently characterised as being essentially a creature of Ireland's bilateral relationship with Great Britain and therefore subject to the overwhelming domination of a single narrative rooted in the struggle for independence. While this narrative of the Irish Nation dominated Irish foreign policy at the state's foundation, it later came to be challenged as a result of contradictions from within that narrative as well as the development of competing narratives.