Global citizen and European republic

Book excerpt: This book, available in paperback for the first time, offers a new and innovative way of looking at Irish foreign policy, linking its development with changes in Irish national identity. Many debates within contemporary International Relations focus on the relative benefits of taking a traditional interest-based approach to the study of foreign policy as opposed to the more recently developed identity-based approach. Uniquely, this book takes the latter and instead of looking at Irish foreign policy through the lens of individual, geo-strategic or political interest, it is linked to deeper identity changes. As one Minister of Foreign Affairs put it; ‘Irish foreign policy is about much more than self-interest. The elaboration of our foreign policy is also a matter of self-definition - simply put, it is for many of us a statement of the kind of people that we are.’ The contributors are drawn from those who have worked alongside Janet Nelson and from some of her former students. They include David Bates, Stephen Baxter, Wendy Davies, Paul Fouracre and David Ganz.