Ireland’s relationship with the European Union has been determined by the behaviour, actions and discourse of political parties. This book examines this impact through an in-depth analysis of the Europeanization of party politics in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. First, it presents original research on cross-cutting issues that have featured in political debates about European integration, including referendum campaigns on EU treaties, Irish neutrality and party policy positions on the EU. Secondly, it is the first book of its kind to examine in detail how each of the main parties on the island of Ireland has adapted to EU membership. In doing so it both tests the thesis of ‘Europeanization’ and deepens understanding of the impact that EU membership can have on national and sub-national party politics. What this study reveals is that, while Europeanization is clearly evident in all parties in Ireland, including those most critical of European integration, its influence has been strictly curtailed. We argue that the effects of Europeanization in Irish party politics have been limited by enduring resistance to – and conditions placed upon – EU influence in particular policy areas, the importance of pragmatism and (sub-)national priorities in shaping parties’ approaches to European integration and the fact that engagement with the EU continues to be a predominantly elite-led process. This book was published as a special issue of Irish Political Studies.

This comparative work examines the political and social context of interest groups in Malta and Ireland, two small island states at the periphery of an integrated continent. The author explores the impact of the European Union on their civil society's organizations and their gradual transformation at differing speeds and logics of Europeanization.

2018 marks the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. When it was signed few would have imagined Brexit. This book examines the impact of the Good Friday Agreement on internal and cross-border political and economic cooperation between Northern Ireland, Ireland and Britain, in the context of Brexit. It also examines the impact of Brexit to date and concludes with some scenarios about the longer-term impact of Brexit on the Good Friday Agreement itself and on Northern Ireland’s constitutional status. The volume comprises chapters from leading academics in the fields of Northern Irish and comparative politics who deal with economic and political aspects of the Good Friday Agreement, making an original contribution to the current debates on conflict resolution. It provides a theoretical framework by renowned expert on consociationalism, Brendan O’Leary, as well as a chapter on the British-Irish Relationship in the 21st Century by renowned Northern Ireland specialist John Coakley. This book was originally published as a special issue of Ethnopolitics.

Since the Treaty of the European Union was ratified in 1993, the European Union has become an important factor in an ever-increasing number of regimes of pooled sovereignty. This Handbook seeks to present a valuable guide to this new and unique system in the twenty-first century, allowing readers to obtain a better understanding of the emerging multilevel European governance system that links national polities to Europe and the global community. Adopting a pan-European approach, this Handbook brings together the work of leading international academics to cover a wide range of topics such as: the historical and theoretical background the political systems and institutions of both the EU and its individual member nations political parties and party systems political elites civil society and social movements in European politics the political economy of Europe public administration and policy-making external policies of the EU. This is an invaluable and comprehensive resource for students, scholars, researchers and practitioners of the European Union, European politics and comparative politics.

A collection of stimulating essays exploring the wide-ranging debates surrounding the relationship between business and society in 21st century Ireland. Wide-ranging, diverse and thought-provoking contributions from leading business researchers, economists, sociologists and political scientists from Ireland and abroad probe five central themes: the making and unmaking of the Celtic Tiger; governance, regulation and justice; partnership and participation; the nature of Irish borders in Ireland, Europe and the wider world; and interests and concerns in contemporary Ireland. Irish Business and Society takes a critical look at Ireland as one of the most open and globally integrated economies in the world, with the activities of Irish and Irish-based foreign business impacting on both national and international societies and businesses; discusses the relationships between business and society within the context of the wider Irish and European, political economy; presents the Irish economic decisions and conditions that precipitated the current recession in Ireland and the resultant lessons to be learned; and examines the relationship between Irish business and society today, contemplating how it might develop into the future. Essential reading for students of Irish Business, Economics, Sociology and Politics, those taking Irish Studies courses and anyone interested in contemporary Ireland. The contributors are: Nicola Timoney, Frank Barry, Mary P. Murphy, William Kingston, Niamh M. Brennan, Rebecca Maughan, Roderick Maguire, Gillian Smith, Conor McGrath, Connie Harris Ostwald, Kevin O'Leary, Jesse J. Norris, Olice McCarthy, Robert Briscoe, Michael Ward, Helen Chen, Patrick Phillips, Mary Faulkner, John O'Brennan, Mary C. Murphy, Breda McCarthy, Marian Crowley-Henry, John McHale, Kate Nicholls, Gary Murphy, Geoff Weller, Jennifer K. DeWan, Patrick Kenny, Gerard Hastings, Margaret-Anner Lawlor, Karlin Lillington, John Cullen

Leading Irish academics and policy practitioners present a current and comprehensive study of policy analysis in Ireland. Contributors examine policy analysis at different levels of government and governance including international, national and local and in the civil service, as well as non-government actors such as NGOs, interest groups and think tanks. They investigate the influential roles of the European Union, the public, science, quantitative evidence, the media and gender expertise in policy analysis. Surveying the history and evolution of public policy analysis in Ireland, this authoritative text addresses the current state of the discipline, identifies post-crisis developments and considers future challenges for policy analysis.

This book explores how the multiplicity of nationalist parties across the European Union have embraced or refused the process of European integration and made it a platform for transnational coordination in the European arena. The author analyzes how opposing pro-European minority nationalist parties and Eurosceptic populist nationalist parties have diversely politicized European integration over the past three decades and engage in different patterns of Europeanization. Tracing their divergent trajectories of transnational coordination, the book examines the common challenges these opposing nationalist party families face and their systematic fragmentation in the European arena. The book offers a novel approach to understanding the conditions for the emergence of truly European nationalist party families, based on the interaction of ideological, strategic and institutional variables that underpin the Europeanization of heterogeneous nationalisms. Nationalisms in the European Arena will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines including sociology and political science. It contributes to the increasing literature on identity politics in the European Union and reveals the mechanisms behind why the European arena is adverse to the political translation and organization of domestic nationalisms as distinctive European actors.

The Routledge Handbook of the Northern Ireland Conflict and Peace is the first multi-authored volume to specifically address the many facets of the 30-year Northern Ireland conflict, colloquially known as the Troubles, and its subsequent peace process. This volume is rooted in opening space to address controversial subjects, answer key questions, and move beyond reductive analysis that reproduces a simplistic two community theses. The temporal span of individual chapters can reach back to the formation of the state of Northern Ireland, with many starting in the late 1960s, to include a range of individuals, collectives, organisations, understandings, and events, at least up to the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement in 1998. This volume has forefronted creative approaches in understanding conflict and allows for analysis and reflection on conflict and peace to continue through to the present day. With an extensive introduction, preface, and 45 individual chapters, this volume represents an ambitious, expansive, interdisciplinary engagement with the North of Ireland through society, conflict, and peace from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives, theoretical frameworks, and methodological approaches. While allowing for rich historical explorations of high-level politics rooted in state documents and archives, this volume also allows for the intermingling of different sources that highlight the role of personal papers, memory, space, materials, and experience in understanding the complexities of both Northern Ireland as a people, place, and political entity.

This book interprets the relationship between Ireland and the European Union (EU). We are coming up to 50 years since Ireland acceded to the EU (2023), and the links between the two are unique and distinctive. The volume presents an original interpretation of Irish-EU relations, and this in turn has implications for a wider understanding of the EU. Its aim is to analyse the Irish-EU relationship from the idea of two apparently contradictory political ideas – internationalism (as represented by European integration in this particular instance) and nationalism (long the dominant value in Irish politics). The authors argue that to date the contradictions have been managed with considerable ease, leading us to characterise the Irish-EU relationship as “nationalism within internationalism”.