Showcasing globalisation? The political economy of the Irish Republic

Abstract:

The Irish Republic - the Celtic Tiger - is often cited as a model economy for those other countries seeking to flourish in the new global economy. This work examines why globalisation is seen to have been so beneficial to the Republic and what the Irish Republican experience tells us about globalisation.

The work is organised over eight chapters. Chapter one sets out the background to the debate and describes the five different conceptions of globalisation. The second chapter explores the economic transformation of Ireland in the 1990s to see whether or not Ireland’s reputation as the ‘Celtic Tiger’ can be fully justified by the analytical evidence. Chapter three tests this further with an exploration of the dynamics behind the Irish transformation. The development of Irish economic policy from the 1920s through to the late 1980s is examined in chapter four, which goes in search of the major influencing factor, and asserts that it has been fashioned by several different and at times contradictory factors. The story from 1987 onwards is taken up in chapter five, which examines key areas of economic policy such as social partnership, public expenditure, industrial policy, privatisation and membership of the EU. Chapter six considers the part played by a variety of factors such as domestic economic conditions, external trade, foreign direct investment and European integration. The seventh chapter explores the influence that claims for globalisation per se may have had rather than the evidence of such claims, and considers the shaping nature of globalisation in the strategies of Irish policy-makers in the 1990s. The concluding chapter draws on the arguments of earlier submissions to consider the implications of the Irish case for countries within and outside Europe.

The work will interest scholars and students, policy-researchers and policy-makers engaged in European Union studies, economics, international trade, globalisation theories and Irish economic affairs.

• Primary Source