ABSTRACT
Given the disagreement over the chronology of nationalism, and its nature, it is hardly surprising that attempts to explain why it arises are equally fraught with contradictions. The difficulties surrounding the attempt to locate the origins of Irish nationalism, or of any country’s nationalism, are reinforced by the wider question of what the term nationalism means anyway. The analysis presented employs four distinct, but closely related concepts: cultural identity; national identity; colonial identity; and nationalism. This lies somewhere between the first two, and is felt by members of a group whose national identity takes its origins in the mother country, but whose cultural identity has been shaped by their new environment. The chief characteristics of nationalism in Ireland have been race, religion, and a strong sense of territorial unity and integrity; and in all its modes it had been profoundly influenced by the power and proximity of Britain.
