The doctrine of self-determination and the Irish move to independence, 1916-1922

This article examines how the doctrine of self-determination was employed by Irish nationalists to appeal for international recognition of an Irish Republic after the First World War. While their use of the doctrine reflected a general tension between its external and internal variants, the case for self-determination also rested on a particular reading of British-Irish history. That history was invoked to support a maximalist interpretation of the doctrine between 1918 and 1920, but with the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 consensus on external self-determination disappeared in favour of more pragmatic arguments for self-government, a shift which resulted in civil war.