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.
Globalisation, Development and Labour Strategies: Ireland in Context
It has been suggested that 'The Irish trade union movement has been dominated by short-term relativistic and sectionalist concerns. As a result, it lacks a classbased identity...' (Breen et al1990, p. 164). This statement is not so much wrong as begging certain questions. For instance, there is not much attention to the question of whether Ireland is, indeed, a case of 'Standard European-type Institutions in a Developing Economy' as another writer put it (Ross 1988). Much industrial relations literature simply assumes that the British model applies in Ireland albeit with variations. At best, there is discussion of Ireland as an example of 'European periphery' and, therefore, a suitable case for corporatism (Teague 1995). However, if we take a broader view of Ireland from the perspective of current international debates on development and globalisation, things might look quite different. Today's business and political managers, often the same person, do not ask themselves 'What is Ireland?' having simply erased the issue in their ahistorical and globalised world view. For the likes of Tony 0' Reilly, who sells his baked beans by simply embossing the word Heinz on a map of Ireland, history is over and 'Politics has no place in the world and the business of Ireland...' (Mac Laughlin 1997, p. 191). Yet for all the social and economic changes over the last twenty years this is still 'an Ireland which would have been perfectly familiar to Franz Fanon' according to Jim Mac Laughlin (Mac Laughlin 1997, p. 191). It is this dilemma of an Ireland at once part of the trend towards globalisation and 'postmodernism', yet, also still discussed as a 'Third World' country in all but geographical location (cf. Caherty (ed.) 1992) which the first section of this paper explores. This section aims to establish the main social and spatial parameters needed to understand the structural situation of labour in Ireland today. The second and third sections of this paper examine the broad sweep of the political economy of labour relations in Ireland and some of the possible scenarios for labour futures. Ireland is not the only case where a model of 'political bargaining' has replaced the once dominant 'free' collective bargaining
The Pauperization of Motherhood: Patriarchy and Public Policy in the United States
In this paper I argue that unequal distribution of the costs of children between men and women has been reinforced by public policies that have served the interests of men as fathers as well as the interests of those employers and taxpayers who are not also mothers. Taking an historical approach, I trace changes in the patriarchal content of policies towards mothers in three separate arenas: family policy, labor market policy, and the welfare system.