... nationalist aspirations. An official emphasis on the shared legacies of empire created a self-defined post-colonial identity for the state. This chapter links these nation-level currents of debate with an evolving international narrative in which circumstances allowed the ‘fire brigade’ states...

...This chapter draws the book's central themes together into an overview of how Ireland and the ‘fire brigade’ states adapted to the shifting sands of international relations in the Cold War. The principles of interdependence and interconnectedness are key. In place of a pragmatic battle of East...

... of the Cold War narrative, to take account of the close inter-relationship between national histories, cultures, social structures and foreign policy. It introduces the ‘fire brigade’ states – Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway and Sweden, a group of small and middling powers valued...