Ireland and the Politics of Change provides a timely assessment of the fundamental changes that have occurred in Irish society over the last several decades from the standpoint of their political significance. There is a particular concern with the leadership role of government and other political institutions in stimulating, managing and responding to the changes taking place that are of fundamental importance to understanding contemporary politics and today's Ireland in the world community. Considerable social, economic, demographic and international change has taken place within Ireland (and Northern Ireland) and without in relation to the rest of the world, and particularly in response to the association with the European Union. Ireland and the Politics of Change examines institutional developments, economic forces, demographic and attitudinal profiles and group-based (religious, gender, class) concerns as they have evolved and assesses their significance for policy enactment and political representation.

This book examines the interrelated dynamics of political action, ideology and state structures in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, emphasising the wider UK and European contexts in which they are nested. It makes a significant and unique contribution to wider European and international debates over state and nation and contested borders, looking at the dialectic between political action and institutions, examining party politics, ideological struggle and institutional change. It goes beyond the binary approaches to Irish politics and looks at the deep shifts associated with major socio-political changes, such as immigration, gender equality and civil society activism. Interdisciplinary in approach, it includes contributions from across history, law, sociology and political science and draws on a rich body of knowledge and original research data. This text will be of key interest to students and scholars of Irish Politics, Society and History, British Politics, Peace and Conflict studies, Nationalism, and more broadly to European Politics.

Ireland and the Politics of Change provides a timely assessment of the fundamental changes that have occurred in Irish society over the last several decades from the standpoint of their political significance. There is a particular concern with the leadership role of government and other political institutions in stimulating, managing and responding to the changes taking place that are of fundamental importance to understanding contemporary politics and today's Ireland in the world community. Considerable social, economic, demographic and international change has taken place within Ireland (and Northern Ireland) and without in relation to the rest of the world, and particularly in response to the association with the European Union. Ireland and the Politics of Change examines institutional developments, economic forces, demographic and attitudinal profiles and group-based (religious, gender, class) concerns as they have evolved and assesses their significance for policy enactment and political representation.

How diaspora activism in the Irish land movement intersected with wider radical and reform causes The Irish Land War represented a turning point in modern Irish history, a social revolution that was part of a broader ideological moment when established ideas of property and land ownership were fundamentally challenged. The Land War was striking in its internationalism, and was spurred by links between different emigrant locations and an awareness of how the Land League’s demands to lower rents, end evictions, and abolish “landlordism” in Ireland connected with wider radical and reform causes. Changing Land offers a new and original study of Irish emigrants’ activism in the United States, Argentina, Scotland, and England and their multifaceted relationships with Ireland. Niall Whelehan brings unfamiliar figures to the surface and recovers the voices of women and men who have been on the margins of, or entirely missing from, existing accounts. Retracing their transnational lives reveals new layers of radical circuitry between Ireland and disparate international locations, and demonstrates how the land movement overlapped with different types of oppositional politics from moderate reform to feminism to revolutionary anarchism. By including Argentina, which was home to the largest Irish community outside the English-speaking world, this book addresses the neglect of developments in non-Anglophone places in studies of the “Irish world.” Changing Land presents a powerful addition to our understanding of the history of modern Ireland and the Irish diaspora, migration, and the history of transnational radicalism.

This collection focuses on the particular nexus of popular sovereignty and constitutional change, and the implications of the recent surge in populism for systems where constitutional change is directly decided upon by the people via referendum. It examines different conceptions of sovereignty as expressed in constitutional theory and case law, including an in-depth exploration of the manner in which the concept of popular sovereignty finds expression both in constitutional provisions on referendums and in court decisions concerning referendum processes. While comparative references are made to a number of jurisdictions, the primary focus of the collection is on the experience in Ireland, which has had a lengthy experience of referendums on constitutional change and of legal, political and cultural practices that have emerged in association with these referendums. At a time when populist pressures on constitutional change are to the fore in many countries, this detailed examination of where the Irish experience sits in a comparative context has an important contribution to make to debates in law and political science.

Essential text for a 1 term/semester undergraduate course on Northern Ireland (usually a 2nd year option). Combines coverage of the historical context of the situation in Northern Ireland with a thorough examination of the contemporary political situation and the peace process. The book explores the issues behind the longevity of the conflict and provides a detailed analysis of the attempts to create a lasting peace in Northern Ireland.

The focus of this book is to analyse from a number of perspectives the politics of change in Ireland north and south since 1969. The emergence of the troubles in Northern Ireland, the final push to gain entry to the EEC, changing social mores and severe economic difficulties all begin to appear on the horizon at this stage. While considerable change and, indeed, moments of extreme crisis, have taken place in areas such as Northern Ireland, the economy, moral politics, and Ireland’s attitude towards the European Union, continuity has also been a significant hallmark of Irish politics since 1969. This volume offers important perspectives and opens up new debates in explaining the phenomena of continuity, change and crisis in contemporary Ireland. New evidence on the origins of the troubles in Northern Ireland, the Arms Crisis, Ireland’s relationship with Europe, the process of social partnership, and the politics of morality all offer important fresh insights into how contemporary Ireland has functioned. Featuring a number of high profile scholars and uniquely dealing with both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, this volume argues that the intriguing feature of recent Irish history is not the absence of change but the extent to which change has been mediated by the existing political cultures, national traditions and long-standing institutions of both north and south. This book was based on a special issue of Irish Political Studies.