World View: 'I am one of the few socialists left in Irish politics.' Bertie Ahern's aside in his interview with Mark Brennock has bubbled away all week - provoking an unwonted outburst of political theorising between the main political parties, writes Paul Gillespie.
Perhaps he was anticipating Tuesday's resignation of the three Aer Lingus bosses, thereby living up to Charlie Haughey's characterisation of him as the most cunning and devious figure in Fianna Fáil. Anyone listening to the venom with which he spoke in the Dáil of right-wing economists, management buyouts intended to enrich individual executives and his evident sympathy for trade union perspectives on the airline's future was struck by this.
His banter with Joe Higgins on the meaning of socialism reminded us their parties compete for Aer Lingus workers' votes in north Dublin constituencies.
A round of office politics prompted me to look up the Florentine theorist Machiavelli in the Oxford Concise Dictionary of Politics. There one reads his advice that the wise prince must recognise it is not always prudent in an evil world to act according to conventional maxims of private morality. Nothing other than necessity should dictate a prince's actions. He should imitate the cunning of the fox and the brawn of the lion; avoid the people's hatred but sustain their awe; project an image of nobility and virtue regardless of his deeds; and be prepared to be cruel.
The entry quotes the historian of political thought, George Sabine, on the "impenetrable" Machiavelli: "He has been represented as an utter cynic, an impassioned patriot, an ardent nationalist, a political Jesuit, a convinced democrat, and an unscrupulous seeker after the favour of despots." A colleague said it reminded him of Bertie Ahern - someone who straddles many fences and seems to stand for nothing at all. But Machiavelli served both the Medicis and the Florentine republic, writing about civic republicanism, public virtue and citizenship as well as statecraft.
Bertie Ahern characterised his "socialism" in several ways. He emphasised collective property rights, whether of the Botanical and Zoological Gardens, or the Phoenix Park, owned and financed by the State and available equally to rich and poor for recreation.
He is an ordinary man in a modest house who enjoys and participates in local community activities in his constituency.
On RTÉ Olivia O'Leary reminded us of his trade union background, his commitment to social partnership and benchmarking, quoting employers who said he has handed over the running of the country to the unions. The successful must give back something to the community. The rich guys he meets in the Fianna Fáil tent at Galway races produce the wealth he redistributes; their fathers were ordinary Joe Soaps like most Fianna Fáil members.
It is all too easy to mock this vision of municipal gas and water socialism, republican egalitarianism, communitarianism, corporatism and welfarism - less so to outvote it. Ahern says he has read Robert Putnam's book Bowling Alone, The Collapse and Revival of American Community twice. It is a detailed study of the hollowing out of community involvement and social networks in the US over the last 40 years, which has become an extraordinary bestseller. Putnam, a sociologist and political scientist at Harvard, uses the concept of "social capital" to guide his research.
It refers to dense networks of connections between individuals, including norms of reciprocity and trust, which arise from community involvement. Social networks have value, affecting the happiness and productivity of both individuals and groups.
The term has been used widely in contemporary social thought - by Pierre Bourdieu on powerful elites, James Coleman on educational advantage, as well as by Putnam and his now numerous disciples. It can be traced back separately to classical theorists like Marx., Weber, Durkheim and Dewey - and to the early generations of socialists from the 1830s. They counterposed a society of mutual co-operation, ownership and control to a capitalist, individualist form of society based on private property - hence socialist.
One way to write the history of socialism is to track the arguments between those who argue it is necessary to abolish capitalism to ensure the flowering of society and those who say capitalism can be tamed and harnessed towards social objectives by representative democracy.
Hence the differences between communists, socialists, social democrats and "New Labourites" which continue to this day. The terminology and political substance are so contested that nobody can rightly claim full ownership of them.
It is better to base a critique on the categories used by those who claim to be socialists.
Putnam uses three such ideas: bridging, referring to inclusive social networking across class and ethnic groups; bonding, to exclusive networking within such groups; and trust or trustworthiness, which underwrites social reciprocity. All three are necessary for a good society.
His latest work is based on a large scale survey of social capital in the US. It finds that the more diverse the community the less bridging there is across ethnic groups and the more bonding there is within them. This is bad for social cohesion and equality and poses a real challenge for political leaders.
Ahern takes these ideas seriously. The 2002 Agreed Programme for Government says "we will work to promote social capital in all parts of Irish life through a combination of research and ensuring that public activity supports the development of social capital, particularly on a local community level".
He is worried (as is Mary McAleese) by a falling away from joining schools, sports clubs, community organisations, political parties and unions and the consequences for rising crime and social disorder.
Notwithstanding this week's Economist Intelligence Unit report that Ireland tops the world as the best place to live because it combines modernity with stable family and community life, researchers say this is threatened by growing social trends. A survey of social capital here by the National Economic and Social Forum last year shows it weakening among young and old people, among lower socio-economic groups, those living in rural and large urban centres and those with a disability or illness.
Researchers nevertheless point out that the media (which are less and less trusted like many other institutions) consistently underestimate the relatively high levels of life-satisfaction in Ireland.
That satisfaction is a real plus for Fianna Fáil and Bertie Ahern. But the growing inequality, the erosion of socially cohesive bridging, the growth of elite bonding and the falling away of trust arising from his policies contradict his claim to be a socialist - or challenge him to live up to the name.