FollowThe Euro-Crisis debate continues at europedebate.ie with new thoughts by SPIRe’s Prof. Daniel Thomas and Dr. Andy Storey.
The Greek ‘Bailout’
SPIRe’s Dr. Andy Storey shares his thoughts on the legitimacy of Greek opposition to a “pro-Bailout” government at europdebate.ie.
“A Reluctant and Bitter ‘Yes'”
SPIRe’s Prof. Ben Tonra shares his thoughts on the “Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union” at europedebate.ie.
Posted in Opinion/Debate
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New Textbook on Irish Foreign Policy
Gill and Macmillan have just published a contemporary and authoritative textbook presenting major themes and analysis of Irish foreign policy within a contextual framework of history, political science, economics and international relations. UCD SPIRe Associate Professor Ben Tonra led an editorial team drown from the Royal Irish Academy’s Committee on International Affairs to draw up the text, calling upon expertise from several disciplines across Irish universities and from within the Department of Foreign Affairs. The text includes specialist chapters from UCD’s Dr. Paul Gillespie and Ben Tonra. Structured along the traditional lines of comparative foreign policy. Introduces the historical context and presents the policy-making processes and actors. Themed chapters address context, contemporary policy issues and future challenges in relation to Ireland’s foreign policy across a number of critical areas. Discusses Ireland’s foreign policy challenges posed within the international system and through its membership of the European Union. Case studies that focus on a specific period or issue are used throughout the text and are illustrative of larger themes within Irish foreign policy. Written in an open and accessible style by leading academic analysts and practitioners of Irish foreign policy. Written For undergraduate and graduate students of Foreign Policy, Irish History and Politics, International Relations, Development Studies, Peace and Conflict Studies, Comparative Foreign Policy.
The anticipated constitutional convention: the dangers of premature judgement?
In yesterday’s Irish Times, Donncha O’Connell likens the much anticipated constitutional convention to a ‘quasi-therapeutic encounter between a selection of politicians and a glorified focus group of politicians’. His principal concerns are twofold:
- He bemoans the lack of a ‘radical approach’ to constitutional reform that, he says, is ‘far from identical to what was promised’;
- He is withering in his characterization of how he envisages the convention working: ‘parties chatting among themselves before engaging with a selection of citizenry in an orchestrated rumination on aspects of the Constitution that may well, for reasons other than pressures of time, be little more than an exercise in shallow intensity’.
He is being unfair on both counts. Continue reading
Posted in Opinion/Debate
Tagged citizens' assembly, constitutional convention, political reform
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European Security in the 21st Century
The European security environment which prevails in the early 21st century has evolved over more than twenty years, with transnational threats emerging, new security actors active at sub-state and international level and a changing discourse which focuses increasingly on human security and a comprehensive approach to crisis management. UCD SPIRe Associate Professor Ben Tonra recently published a co-authored paper entitled European Security in the 21st Century, through the IIEA, which examines the origins of the current security environment in Europe, traces some of the major conceptual debates associated with the recent evolution, describes the multilateral institutional framework and, finally, comments on the contribution of Ireland. Professor Tonra, Jean Monnet Professor of European Foreign, Security and Defence Policy and Associate Professor of International Relations at University College Dublin, is Project Leater for the IIEA group. This paper launches the IIEA European Security and Defence Series, and offers a broad outline of the policy sector as a whole as an introduction to the series. The series will continue over the coming months with further briefing papers and factsheets on specific aspects of European security and defence policy. Download IIEA European Security and Defence Series: European Security in the 21st Century here.
The politics of “austerity” vs. “growth”
By Dr. Samuel Brazys
Renowned US economist Lawrence Summers adds his voice to the European “austerity” vs. “growth” debate in a recent Financial Times piece that is correct in recognizing that the sovereign situation in Greece is different from other Euro-crisis countries. However his analysis largely ignores the household side of the equation in the other PIIGS, particularly in Ireland. Household indebtedness is the major issue here, and the surface hasn’t even been scratched. The property market is still hugely distorted by NAMA and a 2009 estimate by Ronan Lyons suggests that 1 in 5 private Irish homes is in negative equity, a ratio that has almost certainly increased over the past 3 years. As noted here, “a recent Ireland central bank report shows 70,911 mortgages are in arrears of more than 90 days. That’s up from 62,970, or 8.1 per cent, in September.” This is why the “austerity” vs. “growth” debate misses the point. Ireland cannot “save” or “spend” its way out of the crisis – there is a massive amount of household wealth that has to be wiped off the books. That most people realize this has implications for consumer confidence, spending, and ultimately, growth. The consequences of this underlying economic imbalance are currently being masked by the weak Euro, which fuels exports, but a day of reckoning awaits – through a continued short/mid-term fall in nominal prices and wages, and/or long-term inflation that will wipe out debt and wealth alike. Austerity is simply the course that brings on the former, while “growth” brings on the latter. The preference, and thus politics, depends on your net household savings.
Polititcal Parties and Democratic Linkage
David Farrell summarizes the core argument of his recent book: Russell J. Dalton, David M. Farrell and Ian McAllister, Political Parties and Democratic Linkage: How Parties Organize Democracy(Oxford University Press, 2011)
In the academic literature on political parties, which argues that political parties are in terminal decline, there is a bias that need to be redressed. Although parties are the central institutions of representative democracy, critics increasingly claim that parties are failing to perform their democratic functions. Using data from the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) as well as other international data resources (such as the Benoit/Laver expert survey data), unprecedented cross-national evidence can now be assembled to assess how parties link the individual citizen to the formation of governments and then to government policies. The workings of this party linkage process across the established and new democracies can also be examined with profit.
The following five main areas of linkage between parties and citizens are of particular interest:
• Campaign linkage: parties recruit candidates and set the parameters of the electoral process;
• Participatory linkage: parties activate citizens during elections and mobilize them to vote;
• Ideological linkage: parties inform voters about policy choices in elections and voters strongly base their voting preferences on these policy alternatives;
• Representative linkage: elections achieve a good congruence between citizen policy preferences and the policies of the parties represented in parliament and government; and
• Policy linkage: parties deliver on the policies they advocated in the election.
We find that political parties still clearly dominate the electoral process in shaping the discourse of campaigns, the selection of candidates, and mobilizing citizens to vote. Equally striking, parties link citizen preferences to the choice of representatives, with strong congruence between voter and party left/right positions. These preferences are then translated into the formation of coalition governments and their policies. Critics of parties have overlooked the ability of political parties to adapt to changing conditions in order to perform their crucial linkage functions. As the context of politics and societies have changed, so too have political parties. ‘The party is not over’! On the contrary, the process of party government is alive and well in most contemporary democracies. Political parties are here for the long haul.
Posted in New SPIRe Research
Tagged Comparative Politics, Legislative Studies, Political Parties, Research
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The Future of Intergovernmentalism
SPIRe’s Professor Daniel Thomas discusses the implications for Ireland of the future of intergovernmentalism in Europe in a new post at europedebate.ie
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Foreign Aid in Times of Crisis: Can Ireland Give too Much?
With austerity-mongers looking for further turnips to squeeze, foreign aid appears to be a natural choice with a budget in Ireland of over €650 million in 2011. The debate over contemporary foreign aid funding essentially boils down to a discussion over how to use scarce resources during times of crisis – to support the poor at home or the very poor abroad? While there are valid arguments on both sides of the aisle, an arrow in the quiver of those calling for the reduction or elimination of foreign aid is the generally poor track record of foreign aid at promoting economic growth and development in the countries to which it is directed. Beyond simple ineffectiveness, recent research suggests that there may even be a “curse” of aid, where too much foreign aid can decrease government quality, make recipient countries beholden to their donors, and harm economic performance. These negative impacts can lead to “aid dependency” wherein countries enter an aid-induced poverty trap from which they cannot escape.
A new working paper by SPIRe’s Dr. Samuel Brazys investigates at what levels of foreign aid countries may become “aid dependent.” His research finds that while aid-dependency may exist, it does not appear to become manifest until aid levels are much higher than those received by most Irish Aid recipients. Thus, while there may be a need for caution and careful evaluation in expanding existing aid programs, there is little concern that current aid flows are leaving a “curse” on aid-recipient countries.
Posted in New SPIRe Research
Tagged Austerity, Foriegn Aid, International Relations, IPE, Research
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