Wales

Nationalism is not an ideologically rigid doctrine. Plaid Cymru, at the outset, was 'essentially intellectual and moral in outlook and socially conservative. Its principal concerns were the Welsh language, the Welsh identity and Christianity in Wales' .4 More recently Plaid Cymru's predominant ideological stance has been described as modernist,s a mixture of cultural conservatism and innovative social democracy. The evolution of Plaid Cymru's philosophy has owed much to its leadership. The early intellectual leader was Saunders Lewis, an academic and later a distinguished playwright, whilst between 1945 and 1981 the party was led by Gwynfor Evans, a non-conformist, pacifist, lawyer of almost classic Welsh stereotype, save that he acquired the Welsh language as an adult, rather than from birth, and was from a South Wales commercial family. Although Plaid Cymru's ideological stance has recently becoine more explicitly socialist, its broad outlook has inevitably, at times, been tempered by political expediency and electoral opportunities.