Conor Cruise O’Brien’s Conservative Anti-Nationalism Retrieving the Postwar European Connection Mark McNally University of Essex abstract: From the early 1970s Conor Cruise O’Brien acquired a reputation in Ireland and internationally as one of the most vociferous critics of nationalism. While many see the origins of his critique in his reaction to the emergence of militant nationalism in Northern Ireland at this time, in this article I argue that the foundations of O’Brien’s anti-nationalism had already been laid in the postwar European context. The article illustrates how O’Brien’s historical and intellectual experience in the aftermath of the Second World War had an essentially conservative influence on his thought, providing him with a pool of ideas which he would later employ in his attack on nationalism, and Irish nationalism in particular. I therefore maintain that there is a lot more continuity in O’Brien’s thought than is sometimes assumed. key words: anti-humanism, anti-nationalism, conservatism, fascism, irrationalism, mysticism, nationalism, pessimism, religion, violence Introduction: The Conservative Anti-Nationalist (1972–1998) For almost thirty years of the Northern Ireland Troubles (1969–98) Conor Cruise O’Brien held the title of the leading anti-nationalist in Ireland. As writer, politi- cian and journalist, O’Brien engaged in an unremitting critique of Irish nationalism, which he believed to be deeply entrenched in the political culture of the Southern State, arguing in particular that its irredentist claims over Northern Ireland 1 were responsible for legitimizing the armed campaign of the IRA (Irish Republican Army) in the North and thus threatening the whole island with a hopeless and bloody civil war. His seminal discursive essay, States of Ireland (1972), contained two key arguments on the nature of Irish nationalism which occurred again and again in O’Brien’s critique. First, he argued that, while Irish national- ism – and especially Irish republicanism – claimed to have its roots in the secular 308 article Contact address: Mark McNally, Dept of Government, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, UK. Email: mmcnally@essex.ac.uk EJPT European Journal of Political Theory © SAGE Publications Ltd, Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore issn 1474-8851, 7(3) 308–330 [DOI: 10.1177/1474885108089174] at University of the West of Scotland on February 10, 2016 ept.sagepub.com Downloaded from