ABSTRACT
In most societies the content of the constitution has an important effect on political life; it is for this reason that we consider the Irish constitution in Chapter 3. But the constitution does not operate in a vacuum. It is given substance by the set of political values and expectations that are dominant in the society within which it operates. The term ‘political culture’ has been coined to describe this set of attitudes; it refers to fundamental, deeply held views on the state itself, on the rules of the political game and on the kind of principles that should underlie political decision making.
