Richard Kearney proposes the overcoming of this 'sovereignty neurosis', requiring not only a recasting of the political identity of Ireland, but also a re-imagining of its cultural, literary and philosophical heritage. Only then can the political knots of nationalism and national identity be unravelled.

Introduction: Beyond the nation-state Part I Politics 1 Beyond sovereignty 2 Ideas of a republic 3 Genealogy of the republic 4 Postnationalism and postmodernity 5 Rethinking Ireland Part II Culture 6 The fifth province: Between the local and the global 7 Myths of motherland 8 Myth and nation in modern Irish poetry Part III Philosophy 9 George Berkeley: We Irish think otherwise 1110 John Toland: An Irish philosopher? 11 John Tyndall Irish science Postscript: Towards a postnationalist Ireland

Richard Kearney is Professor of Philosophy at University College, Dublin, and lectures regularly at Boston College. He has presented cultural and literary features on Irish and European television and has recently published his first novel, Sam's Fall.