ABSTRACT
Ireland provides an ideal case for testing the theory laid out in the previous chapter. Ireland, along with the former Yugoslavia, is the instance of religious nationalism that most non-academics would recognize as such. In addition, most scholars would not hesitate to point to religion as a key component of Irish nationalism. The link between Irish identity and Catholicism has been well documented. The Irish case provides an opportunity to look at the contrasting shifts in English and British identity over time. The nature of each of these identities (British/English and Irish) has been affected by the changes in international and internal threats. As the two nations have reacted to one another, religion has waxed and waned as a key factor in national identity, particularly in Britain. When turning to the Irish, Catholicism has been a key part of national
identity throughout modern history. As Thomas Bartlett indicates:
Irish history without the Catholic question might seem as improbable as Irish history without the potato … In some respects all Irish history, at least from 1550 onward (if not indeed from the time of St. Patrick), can be regarded as an extended comment on the Catholic question.
