ABSTRACT
The crucial cultural underpinnings of nationalist ideology have not ceased to exist in areas such as Wales, Catalonia and Brittany although these regional cultures in themselves are no explanation for sub-state nationalism's renewed political relevance in Western Europe over the last twenty-five years. The character of Irish nationalism, and particularly its most militant form, Irish republicanism, has undergone a number of dramatic changes since the 1960s and like many other separatist and irredentist movements has become increasingly concerned with social and political issues to the extent of claiming to be socialist. The two main nationalist parties in the North of Ireland are Sinn Fein and Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP). Irish sub-state nationalists, like those in Wales and the Basque Country, have since had to come to terms with this section of the population not just as part of the national mass but as part of an urban working-class.
