Plaid Cymru

In this ground-breaking study of Plaid Cymru's political philosophy, Dr Alan Sandry challenges the conventional assumption that Plaid Cymru, a political party that is generally regarded as being the foremost advocates of Welsh nationalism, conforms to the traditional model of a nationalist party. The author's exhaustive analysis notes that Plaid's ideology is diverse and complex and in places shares certain political convictions with other political philosophies i.e. an environmentalist Green agenda, a decentralist Liberal agenda and a welfarist Socialist agenda. He thus contends that since the party's establishment in 1925, nationalism has been erroneously used as a motif or flag of convenience by the party itself and by those who have written about it. Plaid Cymru An Ideological Analysis is not, therefore, a standard work of political science or merely an historical appraisal of Plaid Cymru. Rather it uncovers the party's philosophical development and it challenges some of the perceptions surrounding the party's ideology. Dr Sandry, using the ideological model enunciated by Michael Freeden, asserts that Plaid Cymru is not merely a nationalist party but is more of a socialist party, albeit with a complex matrix of underlying ideologies.