Name: Polish and Irish Struggles for Self-Determination
SKU: 1-5275-4486-9
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Polish and Irish Struggles for Self-Determination

Living near Dragons

Edited By: Galia Chimiak, Bożena Cierlik

From £29.99

This book explores the little-known links between the Polish and the Irish. Subject to foreign rule, both nations fought for independence and were among the first to grant women voting rights, revealing a shared struggle for autonomy, mutual assistance, and self-organization.

This book discusses little-known linkages between two seemingly distant peoples, the Polish and the Irish, whose historical experiences share important similarities. Both Ireland and Poland…

This book discusses little-known linkages between two seemingly distant peoples, the Polish and the Irish, whose historical experiences share important similarities. Both Ireland and Poland have been subject to foreign rule, which they overturned in 1916 and 1918 respectively. Their predominantly Catholic societies were among the first to grant voting rights to women a century ago. This volume uses the centenary of both Ireland and Poland (re)gaining national independence and the political empowerment of women in these countries as a point of departure to analyse selected aspects of Polish and Irish people’s struggle for autonomy. Cases of mutual assistance, including the awareness-raising campaigns organized by Western women in support of the independence and suffragist movements in Poland, are presented along with examples of grassroots self-organization, foreign press coverage, and military and diplomatic efforts to empower the Poles and the Irish.

Galia Chimiak is an Associate Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences. Her major research interests are grassroots activism and international cooperation. Her publications include two books and three co-edited volumes dealing with societal self-organization on the local and transnational level. Her most recent book focuses on the internationalization of civil society in Poland and its cooperation with national and international state and non-state actors.

Bożena Cierlik is a Lecturer in the School of History at University College Cork, Ireland. Her research is focused on modern Polish history, especially issues of nation building and nationalism, as well as Irish-Polish relations. She was a recipient of the Wybitny Polak w Irlandii [Outstanding Polish Person in Ireland] Award in 2016. She also served as an expert evaluator for the European Commission in key programs on the human-computer interface and the challenges of the enlargement of the European Union.

Iwona Sakowicz-Tebinka, Tomasz Pudłocki