The Irish Famine

Page 3 of 8

• 1. The Irish catastrophe
• 2. An artificial famine?
• 3. Ideological resistance
• 4. Political inertia
• 5. Doctrines of inaction
• 6. An act of Providence?
• 7. Famine fatigue
• 8. Find out more
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Ideological resistance

Though it had a rich history of agrarian violence, the country was at peace. In addition, its system of communications (roads and canals) had vastly improved in the previous half-century, the Victorian state had a substantial and growing bureaucracy (it generated an army of 12,000 officials in Ireland for a short time in 1847), and Ireland lay at the doorstep of what was then the world's wealthiest nation. Why, then, was it not better able to deal with the problems caused by the failure of its potato crop?

'Prevailing ideologies...militated against heavy and sustained relief.'

In answering this question, it is instructive to contrast the role of ideology in the general response to famines today with the part played by ideology in response to the Great Famine in Ireland. Today, wealthier countries and international organisations provide disaster assistance (though, alas, often not nearly enough) as a matter of humanitarian conviction and perceived self-interest. But in Britain in the late 1840s, prevailing ideologies among the political élite and the middle classes strongly militated against heavy and sustained relief.

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Published: 2001-01-01