Colin Coulter

Steve Coleman

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. Ireland appears to be in the process of a remarkable social change, a process which has dramatically reversed a hitherto seemingly unstoppable economic decline. This exciting new book systematically scrutinises the interpretations and prescriptions that inform the 'Celtic Tiger'. Takes the standpoint that a more critical approach to the course of development being followed by the Republic is urgently required. Sets out to expose the fallacies that drive the fashionable rhetoric of Tigerhood. An esteemed list of contributors deal with issues such as immigration, the role of women, globalisation, and changing economic and social conditions.

Reflections on the Celtic Tiger

The end of Irish history?

Katy Hayward

Peter Shirlow

Niall Gilmartin

Since the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland seems changed almost beyond recognition. Violent incidents that were once commonplace are now rare and a younger generation has emerged with identities and interests more fluid and cosmopolitan than their parents. At the same time, however, the region remains in the long shadow of its recent turbulent history. The marginalisation of those who were victims, and indeed agents, of violence proves emblematic of a society still unable to deal with the traumas of the past. Northern Ireland a generation after Good Friday seeks to capture the complex and often contradictory realities of the region's peace process. Across nine original essays, the authors provide a critical and comprehensive reading of a society that seems to have left its violent past behind but at the same time remains subject to its gravitational pull.

Lost Futures and New Horizons in the 'long Peace'

Northern Ireland a Generation After Good Friday

Ireland appears to be in the throes of a remarkable process of social change. The purpose of this book is to systematically scrutinize the interpretations and prescriptions that inform the deceptively simple metaphor of the "Celtic Tiger." The standpoint of the book is that a more critical approach to the course of development being followed by the Republic is urgently required. The essays collected here set out to expose the fallacies that drive the fashionable rhetoric of Tigerhood. Four of these fallacies--that Ireland has cast off the chains of economic dependency, that everyone is benefiting from the economic recovery, that personal freedom and liberty are at an unprecedented level for all citizens, and that Ireland is also experiencing a period of strong cultural renaissance--are vigorously challenged.

Critical Approaches to the Celtic Tiger

The End of Irish History?

Angela Nagle

Once held up as a 'poster child' for untrammeled capitalist globalisation, the Irish Republic has more recently come to represent a cautionary tale for those tempted to tread the same neoliberal path. The crash in the world economy had especially grave repercussions for Ireland, and a series of austerity measures has seen the country endure what some consider the most substantial 'adjustment' ever experienced in a developed society during peacetime. In this collection of essays, a range of academics, economists and political commentators delineate the reactionary course that Ireland has followed since the ignominious demise of the Celtic Tiger. They argue that the forces of neoliberalism have employed the economic crisis they caused to advance policies that are in their own narrow interests, and that the host of regressive measures imposed since the onset of global recession has fundamentally restructured Irish society. The book provides a critical account of a society that has more often than most mapped out the pernicious cycle of boom and bust that remains an essential hallmark of contemporary capitalism.

Colin Coulter

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