FollowYesterday saw the publication of the government’s long-awaited proposals for local government reform. Putting People First sets out in (over 200 pages of) detail proposals for the most radical overhaul of local government in Ireland in the history of the state. Doubtless there will be much debate over the merits of the proposals (and certainly the proposal to kill off town councils has already attracted criticism, much of that from obvious quarters). But what can’t be denied is that the proposals are ambitious and, if implemented, would do much to improve this vital dimension of governance. Continue reading
SPIRe Seminar Week 5: “Auctoritas or Potestas? Personal and Institutional Sources of Individual Political Influence”
This week’s SPIRe seminar series features SPIRe’s Dr. Jos Elkink and Dr. Alex Baturo from the Department of Law and Government at Dublin City University presenting their paper “Auctoritas or Potestas? Personal and Institutional Sources of Individual Political Influence” from 13:00-14:00 in G317 Newman (Arts) Building, UCD Belfield.
“Does the political office that an individual occupies primarily determine one’s overall political influence, or can the same office be strengthened or weakened depending on the office-holder? Thus far, it has proven difficult to empirically separate the office from the officeholder. We argue that provided there is an indicator for the overall individual political influence and there is sufficient variability among individuals taking the same office, being promoted and demoted into different offices, it is possible to estimate separate latent individual and institutional effects. Our model thus provides a new instrument to measure the level of (de)institutionalisation in a political regime. Using expert surveys that assess the ranking of the top political actors in Russia in the 1994-2011 period, we find that office dominates individual roughly by the order of two.”
SPIRe Seminar Week 4: Baroness Haleh Afshar
This week SPIRe, along with The Institute for Irish British Studies (IBIS) and Trinity College Dublin’s Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies, are pleased to welcome the Baroness Haleh Afshar, Professor of Politics and Women’s Studies at York University. Professor Afshar will be speaking on “Women Reclaim Islam: Illustrations from Post-Revolutionary Iran.” Please note that this talk departs from the normal time and place of the SPIRe seminar series and will be held from 19:00-20:30 in Theatre O, Newman (Arts) Building, UCD Belfield.
What did the EU really agree on sovereign and bank debts last summer?
SPRIe’s Prof. Daniel Thomas has the story from an inside Brussels source at europedebate.ie.
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UNSCR 1325 in Northern Ireland: Opportunities, Challenges and Complexities
SPIRe’s Dr. Melanie Hoewer discusses UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and women’s rights and participation in the in the Northern Ireland peace process here.
Posted in New SPIRe Research, Opinion/Debate
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SPIRe Seminar Week 3: Dr. Guy Ben-Porat
This week’s SPIRe seminar feature Dr. Guy Ben-Porat from Ben-Gurion University presenting on his forthcoming book “Between State and Synagogue: The Secularization of Contemporary Israel” from Cambridge University Press. The seminar will be in G317 Newman (Arts) at UCD Belfield from 13:00-14:00 on Thursday, October 4th. The abstract from the book is below:
“A thriving, yet small, liberal component in Israeli society has frequently taken issue with the constraints imposed by religious orthodoxy, largely with limited success. However, Guy Ben-Porat suggests, in recent years, in part because of demographic changes and in part because of the influence of an increasingly consumer-oriented society, dramatic changes have occurred in secularization of significant parts of public and private lives. Even though these fissures often have more to do with lifestyle choices and economics than with political or religious ideology, the demands and choices of a secular public and a burgeoning religious presence in the government are becoming ever more difficult to reconcile. The evidence, which the author has accrued from numerous interviews and a detailed survey, is nowhere more telling than in areas that demand religious sanction such as marriage, burial, the sale of pork, and the operation of businesses on the Sabbath.”
Do we need Seanad Éireann?
Yesterday’s newspapers reported the launch of a paper on the Seanad by a new group (@SeanadReform) campaigning for reform rather than abolition of the second house of the Oireachtas. The government remains committed to holding a referendum on the issue late next year.
Seanad Éireann: Open It Don’t Close It sets out a compelling case for why Ireland needs a second chamber of parliament, and how the existing house – its role and membership – could be easily changed without the need for constitutional reform. Continue reading
New Posts by SPIRe’s Dr. Niamh Hardiman and Prof. Daniel Thomas on europedebate.ie
SPIRe’s Dr. Niamh Hardiman shares some thoughts on Italy’s Mario Monti’s views on European governance here, while SPIRe’s Prof. Daniel Thomas opines on Europe’s “spend less/spend more” debate here.
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SPIRe Seminar Series Week Two – Guatemala Roundtable
SPIRe, in collaboration with the UCD Institute for British Irish Studies (IBIS) and Troicare, is pleased to host a “Guatemala Roundtable” for the second installment of the fall seminar series. Further details below, but please note the change in date and venue to TUESDAY, Sept. 25th from 17:30-19:00 in Theatre 1 (basement) of the UCD Newman (Arts) Building.
THE HUMAN RIGHTS CONSEQUENCES OF ARMED CONFLICT: EVIDENCE FROM GUATEMALA
With speakers from Guatemala, members of, The Association Programme for Mobilisation and Advocacy for Children, Guillermo Toriello Foundation, Pastoral Commission for Peace and Ecology, Centre for Legal Action for Human Rights
More information on the organisations represented at the discussion:
PAMI: The Association Programme for Mobilisation and Advocacy for Children. PAMI works poor children and adolescents to educate them and mobilise them about their rights, and lobbies local government authorities to protect the rights of children and adolescents in Guatemala.
FGT: the Guillermo Toriello Foundation was founded in 1996 after the Peace Accords, which ended the 36 year armed conflict in Guatemala. FGT was founded to reintegrate former guerillas from the Guatemalan armed conflict. The FGT works to defend the rights of the Guatemalan population at national level, providing emergency and practical assistance to communities in need, mobilising communities to defend their land and territorial rights and lobbying the Guatemalan authorities to protect land rights.
COPAE: the Pastoral Commission for Peace and Ecology based in the San Marcos diocese in Guatemala. COPAE works with indigenous communities to mobilise and protect their territorial rights, against the increasing threats of the extractive industry. Founded by Archbishop Ramazzini in 2007, COPAE has organized and mobilised community consultations against mining activities in the San Marcos region, because of the environmental and human rights impacts of these activities. The particular mine in question, the Marlin mine, is owned by Goldcorp, a company which was invested in by the Irish National Pension Reserve Fund
CALDH Centre for Legal Action for Human Rights. Founded by UN Special Rapporteur Frank la Rue, CALDH have played a major role in representing the victims of Guatemala’s armed conflict, a conflict which lasted for 36 years and during which more than 200,000 mostly indigenous people were killed.
TCD UCD Development Research Seminar Series
The TCD UCD Development Research Seminar Series for Fall 2012 has been announced here. The seminar meets every other Friday from September 28th and is open to the public.
Posted in New SPIRe Research, SPIRe Announcements
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