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.
Women’s Employment and Multinationals in the Republic of Ireland: The Creation of a New Female Labour Force
A deliberate policy of encouraging multinational companies to establish subsidiaries was adopted in Ireland in the late 1950s. This policy was a direct reversal of previous policies which had been based, since the establishment of the state in 1922, on varying levels of protection for domestic firms. This protection involved not only high tariffs on consumer goods coming into the country, but also specific controls over the ownership of industry. The Control of Manufacture Act (1934) stated that where a new company was being set up, half of the issued share capital and two-thirds of capital with voting rights must be held by the Irish citizens. Furthermore, a majority of directors of a new company had to be Irish citizens.
Of patriarchy born: the political economy of fertility decisions
If feminist theory does offer a unique insight into womens position in society it must also provide some distinctive contribution to the explanation of fertility decline. Similarly if forms of social control over womens reproductive capacity represent an important component of patriarchal inequality an analysis of changes in the utilization of that reproductive capacity must help reveal some of the laws of motion of patriarchy. Both of these claims are explored in some detail. It is argued that the transition to capitalism modifies some traditional patriarchal inequalities increasing the cost of children to parents and to men in particular. In developng this argument no assumption is made that family decisions can be reduced to a consideration of material costs and benefits merely that they are affected in the long run by economic constraints. Demographic literature which centers on a critique of neoclassical economic theories of fertility decline is reviewed followed by the initial part of the argument that patriarchal inequalities affect the costs of children. Reviewing a large and diverse body of literature describing societies in which elder males own or control access to the means of production 2 distinct but interrelated hypotheses are defended. These are: 1) patriarchal control over adult children enhances parents ability to enjoy positive economic benefits and/or to substantially defray the costs of children and 2) patriarchal control over women enhances mens ability to shift a significant proportion of the cost of children to individual mothers by increasing the length of their workday and lowering the opportunity cost of their time. Finally changes in these particular forms of patriarchal control are linked to the growth of market production and wage labor. The transition to capitalism leads to the genesis of new motives and mechanisms for control over womens labor power yet it diminishes partriarchal authority over adult children. Consequently it reduces the economic benefits of large families. Thus it contributes to a decline in desired family size which weakens resistance to womens demands for control over their own reproduction and modifies the traditional sexual division of labor. Both these changes contribute to the continuing process of fertility decline. The demographic and economic changes described have not led to any visible lessening of the sexual wage differential but they have improved womens position within the family. They have also undermined the economic stability of family life. Feminists must move beyond critical analysis to a more explicit consideration of the ways in which parenthood could and should be organized.