Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T08:59:18.257Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Perils of Community as a Construct for the Political Ideology of Welsh Nationalism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2014

Laura McAllister
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

THIS ARTICLE EXPLORES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE CONCEPT of community and the incremental construction of a political ideology for Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party. In explaining the two general applications of community, empirical and evaluative, the article claims that there is an essential vagueness attached to community which limits its value in developing a clear ideological focus for a political party. This incoherence within the concept, coupled with a specific reluctance to analyse and apply community more precisely within the framework of Welsh nationalism, has made it more a hindrance than an asset to Plaid Cymru's political and electoral progress.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , October 1998 , pp. 497 - 518
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 See, for example Davies, D. H., The Welsh Nationalist Party 1925–1945: A Call to Nationhood, Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 1983 Google Scholar; Evans, G., Fighting for Wales, Talybont Y Lolfa, 1991 Google Scholar; Williams, E. W., The Politics of Welsh Home Rule 1886–1929, A Sociological Analysis, PhD thesis, University of Wales, 1986 Google Scholar; Thomas, C., The Celtic Nations, Celtic League, 1963 Google Scholar; A. Phillip, Butt, The Welsh Question: Nationalism in Welsh Politics 1945–1970, Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 1975 Google Scholar.

2 Minar, D. W. and Greer, S., The Concept of Community – Readings with Interpretations, Chicago, Aldine, 1969 Google Scholar.

3 Smith, A. D., National Identity, Harmondsworth, Penguin, 1991, ch. 1Google Scholar.

4 Miller, D., On Nationality, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1995, p. 11 Google Scholar.

5 Black, G., State, Community and Human Desire: A Group‐centred Account of Political Values, Hemel Hempstead, Harvester‐Wheatsheaf, 1988 Google Scholar.

6 Anderson, B., Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, London, Verso, 1991 Google Scholar.

7 Miller, op. cit., p. 22.

8 McCulloch, C. and Parry, G., ‘Pluralism, Community and Human Nature’, in Porter, J. M. and Vernon, R. (eds), Unity, Plurality and Politics: Essays in Honour of F. M. Barnard, London, Croom Helm, 1986 Google Scholar.

9 Minar and Greer, op. cit.

10 Stacey, M., ‘The Myth of Community Studies’, British Journal of Sociology, 20:2 (1969) pp. 134–47Google Scholar.

11 Crawford, A., review article of Etzioni’s ‘The Spirit of Community’, Journal of Law and Society, 2 (06 1996) pp. 247–62Google Scholar.

12 See, for example Maclntyre, A., After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, London, Duckworth, 1982 Google Scholar; Taylor, C., in Rosenblum, N. (ed.), Liberalism and the Moral Life, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1989 Google Scholar; and Sandel, M., Liberalism and the Limits of Justice, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1982 Google Scholar.

13 Kymlicka, W., Liberalism, Community and Culture, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1989 Google Scholar.

14 Taylor, K., The Political Ideas of the Utopian Socialists, London, Frank Cass, 1982 Google Scholar.

15 See ibid., and Owen, R., A New View of Society and Other Writings, London, Dent, 1927 Google Scholar.

16 Evans, G., Non‐violent Nationalism, Alex Wood Memorial Lecture, 1973 Google Scholar.

17 Quoted in Barker, R., Political Ideas in Modern Britain, London, Methuen, 1978 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

18 Quoted in ibid.

19 Interview with author.

20 George, David Lloyd quoted in Jones, J. G., ‘Forming Plaid Cymru:’, National Library of Wales Journal, XXIII, (1983–4), p. 443 Google Scholar.

21 Lewis, S., Principles of Nationalism, Cardiff, Plaid Cymru, 1975, p. 3 Google Scholar.

22 See McAllister, L., ‘Community in Ideology; The Political Philosophy of Plaid Cymru’, PhD thesis, Cardiff, University of Wales, 1995 Google Scholar.

23 Royal Commission on the Constitution, 1969–1973, Volume 1.

24 Ibid.

25 Dicey, A. V., Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution, 10thedn, Basingstoke, Macmillan Education, 1985 Google Scholar.

26 D. Wigley, interview with author.

27 See McAllister, L., ‘The Welsh Devolution Referendum: Definitely Maybe?’, Parliamentary Affairs, 51:2 (04 1998) pp. 149–65CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

28 Plaid Cymru Cyngor Cenedlaethol (National Council), minutes of meeting held on 16 June 1979.

29 Williams, P., Minority report in Report of the Plaid Cymru Commission of Inquiry, Cardiff, Plaid Cymru, 1981 Google Scholar.

30 Wigley, D., quoted in Coxall, W. N., Parties and Pressure Groups, 2nd edn, London, Longman, 1985 Google Scholar.

31 Williams, E. W. and Thomas, D. E., ‘Commissioning National Liberation’, Bulletin of Scottish Politics, 1981–82, pp. 139–55Google Scholar.

32 Plaid Cymru annual conference programme, 1981, p. 26.

33 See, in particular, issues 8 (Autumn 1985) and 13 (Winter 1986) of Radical Wales.

34 McAllister, L., PhD thesis, 1995, op. cit., pp. 292–3Google Scholar.

35 D. Williams, interview with author.

36 Plaid Cymru annual conference programme, 1981, op. cit., p. 18.

37 Hechter, M., Internal Colonialism: The Celtic Fringe in British National Development 1536–1966, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975 Google Scholar.

38 Kymlicka, W., Multicultural Citizenship, A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1995 Google Scholar.