Political Conflict, Partition, and the Underdevelopment of the Irish Economy
This paper argues that the partition of Ireland has not only contributed to over seventy years of political instability and conflict, but has also contributed to the underdevelopment of the Irish economy, North and South. The paper examines the historical development of the Irish economy with particular reference to models of dependent development and the economic costs of partition. The paper concludes by suggesting alternative development strategies. It is argued that such strategies would provide a mechanism for challenging deeply embedded class and power relations, and the economic vulnerability generated by development strategies based on the attraction of global capital.
The States of Ireland: Some Reflections on Research
There is now a substantial body of research on the state in Ireland which cross-cuts the disciplines of history, political science, economics and sociology. Published work on the state in the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland has done much to advance our knowledge of Irish society. Yet, this research fails to draw on some key aspects of the Irish experience which illuminate the nature of the state in the modem world. This, in tum, has placed limits on the analysis of the state in Ireland. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of Irish state research to date has been the reluctance to problematise both Northern Ireland/Britain and the Irish Republic as units of analysis. Instead, these units have been taken for granted, almost as natural units of analysis, the apparently inevitable outcome of economic and political evolution. The result is that we are left with a rather static ahistorical conception of the state rather than with a sense of it as a dynamic social construction. The taken-for-granted approach to existing states is all the more remarkable given the particular circumstances of the Irish case. On the island of Ireland, we currently have two states, the British and Irish. Over the past two centuries, there has been a variety of constitutional and administrative arrangements which have reflected the degree to which the sovereignty and boundaries of existing states were contested throughout the period. Currently, the Anglo-Irish Agreement has forged unique links between the two national governments to help manage the issue of contested sovereignty in Northern Ireland. In addition, moves towards European integration have implications for the sovereignty of all EC states. Ireland is a powerful reminder of the continued relevance of Max Weber's argument that the monopolisation of the means of coercion within fixed boundaries remains a central preoccupation of the national state. Both this monopoly and the state boundary continues to be contested, violently in Northern Ireland, and constitutionally in the Irish Republic. State boundaries in Ireland have never enclosed self-contained economies. Irish nationalism at its most autarkic was never able to negate the country's integration into the international capitalist economy.
The role of forensic epidemiology in evidence-based forensic medical practice
Objectives This thesis is based on 4 papers that were all written with the same intent, which was to describe and demonstrate how epidemiologic concepts and data can serve as a basis for improved v ...