Title: Collectivist and Divided – The Occidental Observer

URL Source: https://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2026/03/08/irish-politics-collectivist-and-divided/

Markdown Content:
**Editor’s note**: This article resonated with me because it fits well with the material on differences in family structure within Western Europe described in Chapter 4 of my _[Individualism and the Western Liberal Tradition](https://www.amazon.com/dp/1089691483?ref\_=pe\_3052080\_397514860)._ As described there, Ireland is outside the famous Hajnal line marking off the individualist family patterns of northwest Europe from family patterns in eastern and southern Europe and “suggests that the northwest European family pattern is fundamentally an ethnic creation of the Germanic peoples.” Ireland thus does not fit the family pattern of the rest of northwest Europe, being more prone to collectivism, as also described in a previous article by Seaghan Breathnach, “[The Irish Psyche: Against Democracy and Republ...