republican politics upon which it is supposed to be based. In Ireland,
nationalism has been imagined as synonymous with republicanism.
Kearneyís argument is that, all too often, the nation-state loses sight of
ëthe peopleí it is supposed to and cannot fully represent. In this way,
his post-nationalist vision is concerned with the republican basis from
which Irish nationalism was initiated.
Kearney provides an outline of the relation between post-
modernism and post-nationalism as he criticizes the centralizing
effects of nationalism in favour of less limited modes of identification.
In his chapter ëPostnationalism and postmodernityí, Kearney begins
with a section entitled ëBeyond Nationalismí and proceeds cautiously:
ëTo critique the nation-state is not to repudiate all forms of
nationalism. It is unwise, in particular, to ignore how certain forms of
nationalism have served, historically, as legitimate ideologies of
resistance and emancipation.í This comment connects back to Nairnís
differentiation between ethnic nationalism and civic nationalism or,
between ëhegemonic and resistantí forms of nationalism; ëthose that
emancipate and those that incarcerate.í^29 However, Kearneyís argu-
ment in ëTowards A Political Theory Of The Postmoderní, becomes
utopian:
The postmodern theory of power puts the ëmoderní concept of the nation-state
into question. It points towards a decentralizing and disseminating of sover-
eignty which, in the European context at least, signals the possibility of new
configurations of federal-regional government.^30Kearney follows this by drawing on Jean FranÁois Lyotardís assertion
from The Postmodern Condition (1979): ëLet us wage war on totality.
Let us activate the differences [Ö]í.^31 Such a swift move from
philosophy to political theory is problematic: how the differing nation-
states of Europe are supposed to magically metamorphose into a ënew
configuration of federal-regional governmentí is left unexplained at
any practical level.
29 Ibid., p.57.
30 Ibid., p.61.
31 Ibid., p.63. Jean-FranÁois Lyotard, ëWhat Is Postmodernism?í, Postmodernism:
A Reader, ed., Thomas Docherty (London: Harvester, 1993), p.46.