The Rise and Fall of Minor Parties in Ireland

Abstract

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.