Peadar Kirby

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Contesting the State:
Lessons from the Irish case

Manchester University Press, 2008

Co-edited with Maura Adshead and Michelle Millar

This is the first comprehensive survey of the Irish state, and draws on a range of theoretical approaches to analyse its origins, its evolution, its nature and its role in Ireland’s recent economic success.

List of contents:

Editors on Ireland as a model of success and contesting the state

J.J. Lee (NYU) on the Irish state 1922-73

Maura Adshead (UL) on state capacity and autonomy since Ireland’s independence

Rory O’Donnell (NESC) on the partnership state

Michelle Millar (NUIG) on social exclusion and the welfare state

Peadar Kirby (UL) and Mary P. Murphy (NUIM) on the Irish state as a competition state

Pat O’Connor (UL) on the Irish patriarchal state

Seán Ó Riain (NUIM) on competing state projects in the contemporary Irish political economy

Editors draw conclusions and map an agenda for future work

‘Until now, the role of the state in [Ireland’s] transformation has remained obscure. The contributors to this volume are changing all that. By focusing on the contested ways the Irish state has been paradoxically promoting both competitiveness and social partnership at the same time, they are advancing key debates about the role of the contemporary state, not only in Ireland but also across the globe.’

Philip G. Cerny, Professor of Global Affairs, Rutgers University, Newark

‘This is a hugely impressive and exciting collection that harnesses the insights of different disciplines to address a true mystery: what role did the state play in the extraordinary reversal of fortune represented by today’s Ireland?’

Kevin Boyle, Professor of Law, University of Essex

Introduction to Latin America : Twenty-First Century Challenges

Sage Publications, 2003.

‘This is an outstanding textbook which will
appeal to a wide audience but especially those
wishing to understand contemporary Latin America .
I have been studying Latin America for over
forty years and wish I could have
written such a lucid and engaging book.’

-Cristóbal Kay, Institute of Social Studies ,
The Hague , The Netherlands

Introduction to Latin America provides a comprehensive overview of the political, economic and social forces shaping this important region of study for all students today.

This is the first textbook to examine Latin America in the light of the oportunities and challenges offered by globalization, and to assess how the region is responding. The author outlines the principal elements of contemporary debates on globalization, neoliberalism, democratization, poverty and inequality, and the social impact of environmental change.

The text reviews the theories (modernization and dependency) that dominated interpretation of Latin America for most of the post-War period and develops an alternative multidisciplinary frame of analysis. Drawing from international political economy the text offers a new basis from which to interpret and understand the complex forces and actors in today's Latin America and the ways in which their interactions impact on the prospects for equitable and sustainable development.

Incorporating maps, case studies, summary exhibits and guides to further reading, Introduction to Latin America is an essential and highly accessible text for all students of Latin America across politics, economics, international studies, sociology, geography and development studies.

Vulnerability and Violence: The Impact of Globalisation

Pluto Press, 2006

This book sets out to argue that a new concept is needed to capture the causes which motivate so many to protest against today’s form of globalisation and it proposes the concept of vulnerability as capturing the central dynamic that is generating such widespread unease. The book introduces the concept and traces its application in the political economy and cultural worlds of contemporary globalisation. It then interrogates the meaning of globalisation, returning to the work of Karl Polanyi to find a theoretical frame that helps account for the impacts of market forces on society around the world. The book’s final two chapters seek to answer the question ‘So what should we do?’ Launched by Noam Chomsky in Dublin in January 2006, Vulnerability and Violence has already contributed to the emergence of a new field of vulnerability studies.

Taming the Tiger: Social Exclusion in a Globalised Ireland

Tasc with New Island, 2006

Co-edited with David Jacobson and Deiric Ó Broin

This book examines the complex and ambiguous lessons of the impact of globalisation on Ireland, with a particular focus on its challenges for local government and local civil society. The various contributions are grouped into four parts that reflect this objective, the first dealing with the context of globalisation and social stratification that we now face, the second with the perspectives of two key officials in the public sector, the third with various approaches to addressing the challenges outlined, and the fourth with an agenda for action. Contributors include Dermot McCarthy, Secretary General of the Department of the Taoiseach and secretary to the Irish Government, and John Tierney, Dublin City Manager, as well as a range of academics and social activists to offer different perspectives on the challenges facing Ireland as it enters the post-Celtic Tiger phase of its development.

In his foreword to the book, Professor Charles Sabel of Columbia Law School writes: ‘This direct and useful little book contains a clear warning about the Celtic-tiger miracle, some provocative facts, and a suggestion – a small demonstration even – of hope for the future’.

Celtic Tiger in Distress: Growth with Inequality in Ireland

Published in the Palgrave International Political Economy series, 2002.

Chosen by the American Library Association as an Outstanding Academic Title of 2002.

‘The study advances our understanding of the complexity and pitfalls of the globalisation phenomenon in general, and it provides a sound basis for rethinking Ireland’s and the EU’s future.’

- Robert W. Cox, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Social and Political Thought, York University , Canada

‘ Ireland , hailed as another “tiger”, does not really confirm current development ideology; neither is the success story without its complications. The fascinating story is here brilliantly explained by the use of a comprehensive political economy approach.’

- Björn Hettne, Professor in the Peace and Development Research Institute, Gothenburg University , Sweden

‘Peadar Kirby has written an incisive critique of Ireland’s recent economic growth; his book is at once a challenge to prevailing accounts of the Irish record and a contribution to the broader study of change within the context of globalisation. His central argument that Irish economic success has overlain continued social inequality, state irresponsibility and a precarious reliance on external capital is one of general relevance to debate on contemporary economic development and on the terms of integration with the global economy.’

- Fred Halliday, Professor of International Relations, London School of Economics , England

Ireland

’s Celtic Tiger economy has been held up as a model of successful development in a globalised world, offering lessons for other late-developing countries. This book interrogates the principal theoretical approaches which have been used to analyse the Celtic Tiger, particularly neoclassical economics, and finds them inadequate to capture its ambiguities or address its developmental deficit. Elaborating an alternative approach, drawing particularly on the work of Karl Polanyi, it offers an interpretation which captures more fully the ways in which the Irish state has made itself subservient to market forces. The options now facing Irish society are mapped out through a critical examination of globalisation, identifying possibilities for development and social action.