This study day will bring together established and young researchers to explore the complex and rich history of radicalism, radicalisation and de-radicalisation in Ireland from 1798 to the present day. Radicalism is often perceived as the extreme expression of a political or religious ideology, but it also defines movements committed to substantial reforms. In Ireland, historiography has focused mainly on political radicalism and its various expressions over time. From the United Irishmen’s revolutionary insurrection of 1798 and that of Young Ireland’s in 1848 to the War of Independence and the Civil War, political demands have often been associated with civil rights and parliamentary autonomy, but also with rural agitation for land redistribution.

Argument

This study day will bring together established and young researchers to explore the complex and rich history of radicalism, radicalisation and de-radicalisation in Ireland from 1798 to the present day. Co-organised by lecturers from the Université de Lorraine – IDEA and from the Université de Strasbourg – SEARCH, with the support of the GIS EIRE and the SOFEIR, this event will take place in Nancy.

The keynote speakers are Professor Peter Gray (Queen’s University Belfast) and Professor Eugenio Biagini (Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge). The other contributors are invited to examine the different facets of radicalism in Ireland, both in terms of its various forms and the different processes by which radicalisation, and then de-radicalisation, take place.

Radicalism is often perceived as the extreme expression of a political or religious ideology, but it also defines movements committed to substantial reforms. In Ireland, historiography has focused mainly on political radicalism and its various expressions over time. From the United Irishmen’s revolutionary insurrection of 1798 and that of Young Ireland’s in 1848 to the War of Independence and the Civil War, political demands have often been associated with civil rights and parliamentary autonomy, but also with rural agitation for land redistribution. The aim of this study day is to extend these questions to other forms of radicalism, and to the dynamic processes in which they are embedded.

Participants may diachronically explore the similarities and divergences between the various revolutionary uprisings and the various nationalist movements that followed, or in the land reform movements of the Tenant League and the rural radicalism of the 1960s.

This could lead to further study on radical liberalism, with its demands for universal suffrage and the extension of democratic rights, and on women’s liberation movements, as well as their legacies across time and generations: how do the initial demands change?

How do national movements interact with international networks? How are legacies passed on within families, institutions, and political groups? Others may look at the way in which religion influences or is instrumentalised by opposing parties at a given time or over time, either in a radicalising way or, conversely, with the objective of de-radicalising actions in favour of social change.

Hence, this study day aims to offer an interdisciplinary examination of the various processes that arise from demands for change, that may lead to violence, and eventually to de-escalation towards resolution, as was the case, for instance, in the Northern Ireland conflict. Papers could also look at the links between religious and political dissent, from collaboration to opposition, in strengthening sectarianism or in using it as an anti-revolutionary weapon.

This event will be of interest not only to researchers working on Ireland, but also to those working on political thought, social movements, and religion in the British Isles, as well as to (post)graduate students, and Agrégation candidates.

Submission guidelines

The organizers welcome individual proposals for 20 min-papers. Please send 250-word abstracts with a short biography to karina.wendling@univ-lorraine.fr

by February 10, 2024.

Abstracts should include the author’s name, institutional affiliation, and paper title in the heading. Presenters will be notified by February 25, 2024.

Keynote speakers

(more below):

• Professor Peter Gray, Queen’s University Belfast.
• Professor Eugenio Biagini, Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge.

Scientific committee

• Karina Bénazech Wendling, Senior Lecturer at Université de Lorraine – IDEA.
• Vanessa Boullet, Senior Lecturer at Université de Lorraine – IDEA.
• Pauline Collombier, Senior Lecturer – HDR at Université de Strasbourg – SEARCH.
• Stéphane Guy, Professor at Université de Lorraine – IDEA.
• Tim Heron, Senior Lecturer at Université de Strasbourg – SEARCH.