Ireland

Ireland, the second-largest island in Europe, lies in the Atlantic Ocean on the western periphery of the European continent, separated from Great Britain to the east by the Irish Sea. Although the island is 84,433 square kilometers (32,595 square miles) in size, the jurisdiction of the Republic of Ireland covers 70,280 square kilometers (27,135 square miles). With a population estimated at 3.97 million in 2004, Ireland remains relatively underpopulated with a population density of just fifty-six persons per square kilometer (22 persons per square mile), in contrast to the European Union (EU) average of 115 persons per square kilometer (44 persons per square mile).

Geographically, Ireland is a saucer-like territory, encircled by low mountains on the coast and relatively flat plains in the center. The country is divided into the four provinces—Connacht, Leinster, Munster, and Ulster—with these provinces further subdivided into thirty-two counties. Twenty-six of these counties constitute the Republic of Ireland; six of Ulster's nine counties form Northern Ireland, now a part of the United Kingdom. Dublin is the capital city of Ireland, with an estimated population in 2002 of 1.058 million. The two official state languages are Irish and English.

history

One of the more significant dates in Irish history is May 1, 1169, when the Normans invaded Ireland. Two years later, when the Norman/English King Henry II (1133–1189) was made Lord of Ireland in 1171, this marked the beginning of a period of English rule that was to last until 1922. Numerous insurrections occurred throughout the centuries against this domination, but because they were not popular widespread uprisings and because the Irish factions could not unite as they had done in 1014, when they defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Clontarf, their rebellions were all crushed. On Easter morning of 1916 insurgents took to the streets of Dublin in a failed attempt to begin the revolution. What became known as the Easter Rising resulted in the rise to prominence of Sinn Féin (meaning "we ourselves"), initially a minority movement which did not take part in the uprising but which grew rapidly as it was taken over by rebel nationalists in the aftermath of 1916. In 1919 the elected members of Sinn Féin formed their own parliament, Dáil Éireann, where they produced a Proclamation of Independence modeled on the French and American versions.

Following a war of independence waged by Sinn Féin's military wing, the Irish Republican Army (IRA), against British forces from 1919 to 1921, Ireland regained independence under the 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty. This granted twenty-six of the thirty-two counties the same dominion status held by other members of the British Commonwealth such as South Africa and Canada. This partition was the main crux of the treaty, and it divided the country bitterly, resulting in a civil war from June 1922 to May 1923 that claimed 4,000 lives. The pro-treaty side, which formed the new government, won the civil war, but the anti-treatyites did not enter parliament until 1927. It was not until Eamon de Valera (1888–1975), founder of the anti-treaty party Fianna Fáil, was elected as president of the executive council (prime minister) in 1932 that democracy was consolidated in Ireland. In 1949 Ireland left the commonwealth and formally established a republic. After lengthy negotiations it joined the European Economic Community (now known as the EU) in 1973.

The issue of partition was never resolved, and the eruption of violence in the North between Nationalists/Republicans (predominantly Catholic) and Unionists/Loyalists (predominantly Protestant) in 1969 demanded the attention of the Republic's government. A peace process begun in the 1990s helped engineer a ceasefire and culminated in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which among other things, involved the Republic dropping its constitutional claim on Northern Ireland.

socioeconomic status

For a long time Ireland was an underdeveloped agrarian economy, lacking the major deposits of natural resources that elsewhere fueled the Industrial Revolution of the nineteenth century. However, the country has witnessed a dramatic change in its socioeconomic structure since the 1960s, with one of the major causes being the transformation of the economy from an agricultural to a post-industrial base. Agriculture had declined in importance to such a degree that, by 2002, it provided only 8 percent of employment and 5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), whereas the services sector employed 64 percent of the labor force and provided 49 percent of GDP. Ireland's rapid economic growth rate (the fastest in Europe) saw the country's per capita GDP increasing from 60 percent of the EU average in 1973 to 126 percent in 2002, earning the economy the title of the "Celtic Tiger," in recognition of its growth rate rivaling the dynamic "Asian Tiger" economies.

These changes have radically improved the quality of life, confirmed by the United Nations Human Development Index, which ranked Ireland tenth of 177 countries in 2004. However, a breakdown of this index reveals that although Ireland lies third in terms of GDP per capita, it lags behind its Western partners in terms of life expectancy (twenty-eighth), proportion living under the poverty line (twentieth), and its functional literacy rate (fourteenth).

system of government

Ireland is a liberal democracy with a parliamentary system of government. It is also a republic, with a directly elected president as head of state.

Origins. This system of government is a legacy of Ireland's colonial rule under Britain. The vast majority of the new state's leaders were political novices, and, as their main aim was simply to consolidate the fledgling state, they adopted a system they knew best, the Westminster model of parliamentary democracy. This legacy—and the small size of the country—also explains the decision to create a centralized , unitary state.

Conversely, another by-product of British colonial rule was the decision to reject the constitutional monarchy model in favor of a republican form of government. Although Ireland did not formally become a republic until 1949, it was one in all but name from 1937 onward. Although Ireland veered from the Westminster model in having a president as head of state, the post is largely a ceremonial role with very few powers, such that the Irish presidency is recognized as the weakest in Europe. This mixture of parliamentarism and presidentialism has led some to classify the system as "semi-presidential," similar to France and Austria, although this is open to debate, with most observers preferring to categorize it as a parliamentary system with a directly elected president.

Constitutional Basis. Ireland deviated from the Westminster model and followed the American and French republican traditions by adopting a written constitution. The 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State did not have an auspicious beginning: Because it was written under duress from the British government, it never carried the necessary air of authority. It was ultimately replaced in 1937 by Bunreacht na hÉireann, written free of any external influences and approved by the people in a referendum .

operation of government

Ireland follows the classical model of liberal democratic theory, with the parliament representing the people as the supreme decision-making body. Parliament elects a prime minister (Taoiseach) and ratifies the prime minister's choice of government, or cabinet ministers. The Taoiseach and government are answerable and accountable to parliament, which is free to dismiss the government at any time they wish. Parliament also has the ultimate power to make laws, which the government is obliged to execute.

Division of Powers. The Irish political system is modeled on the writings of Montesquieu (1689–1755), with power devolved among the separate branches of the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. A bicameral legislature, the houses of the Oireachtas, consists of a directly elected lower house, Dáil Éireann (House of Representatives), and an indirectly elected upper house, Seanad Éireann (Senate). The Oireachtas consists of the legislature and the president, and even though it has the sole and exclusive power for making legislation, almost all laws are government-sponsored. The Dáil can veto any bill, which the government has no power to override, but the disciplined nature of party governments ensures that this is a rare occurrence. The Seanad has few powers: It can veto any bill (except a money bill), but this veto automatically lapses after ninety days. The president can refer any bill (except a money bill or a proposal to amend the constitution) to the Supreme Court to check the constitutionality of the bill, but this power was only employed fifteen times up to March 2005, and it is generally expected that the president signs into law most bills passed by parliament.

Practice. Like most parliaments, the Dáil's de facto powers deviate greatly from its de jure authority. The government is the real seat of authority, as it makes almost all laws, and the Dáil is little more than a glorified rubber stamp, used to confirm its decisions. This digression occurs because Ireland conforms to the Westminster model of democracy, with no effective separation of powers between government and parliament. They are not separate, distinct bodies, as the government is chosen from the parliament; all ministers must be members of either house of parliament, although because the provision that up to two senators can be appointed to government is rarely used, in effect virtually all ministers are also members of the Dáil, or Teachta Dála (TDs). In addition, the Dáil is not an atomized group of individuals, but rather a collection of a few tightly disciplined parties; because party TDs rarely rebel against their respective leaders, a majority government can act relatively independently of the Dáil, largely wielding unchecked power.

Judiciary. The final branch of government, the judiciary, deviates from the comparative European model in that the government is the sole appointee of judges. Nevertheless, the judiciary is recognized and acts as an independent body. Neither the legislative nor the executive branches have the authority to interfere with judicial decisions, and judges can only be dismissed by a majority of the Dáil and Seanad for obvious misbehavior or incapacity. The judiciary possesses the additional power of judicial review , which is the authority to interpret the constitutionality of legislation, any actions based on legislation, or the actions of any public body. This is a power they share with their common law U.S. counterparts, but which is different to the conventional European civil law model, in which designated constitutional courts alone have the power of judicial review.

Bureaucracy. The Irish bureaucracy conforms to the British generalist style of civil service, whereby officials are assessed according to their general administrative skills, in contrast to the technocratic ethos of most European bureaucracies. The distinguishing feature of the Irish civil service is the strictly nonpartisan nature of appointments, which is in contrast to the politicized nature of bureaucracy in the United States, where changes of civil servants occur in accordance with changes in the presidency. Until 1997, government ministers were responsible for everything done within, and by, their departments. This masked the role of departmental officials, some of whom exerted a considerable role on government policy. A change in legislation in 1997 went a little way to recognizing this de facto situation by acknowledging and allocating some responsibilities and powers to senior civil servants.

political life

The two dominant political parties of post-independence Ireland stem from the 1922–1923 civil war, with Fianna Fáil (meaning "Soldiers of Destiny") representing the anti-treaty tradition, and Fine Gael (meaning "Tribe of Gaels"), the pro-treaty tradition. Both are centrist parties, and they have led every single government, although they have never been in power together. Fianna Fáil has been the largest party at every election since 1932, spending fifty-five of seventy-three years in government from 1932 to 2005, and Fine Gael, which has been the second largest party at every election since 1932, has been in government for only eighteen years over the same time period. The third main party is the Labour Party, but their electoral performance has been the weakest of any European left-wing party, averaging only 11 percent of the vote from 1922 to 2004. Other minor parties include the Progressive Democrats, a liberal-style party; the Green Party, a quintessential ecology-based party; and Sinn Féin, an all-island nationalist party, which has close political links with the paramilitary IRA.

Interest Groups. Interest groups exert a considerable influence on government policy, with notable examples including the Irish Farmers' Association and the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. Elements of both the corporatist and pluralist models are evident in the role of interest groups in the policy-making process. The former takes the form of a tradition of three-way consultation between government, industry, and trade unions that expanded from the late 1980s onward to include a wide range of economic and social policies. The pluralist model is seen in the significant influence cause-centered groups can wield on public policy. This has especially been the case in the area of "moral politics," whereby groups such as the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child and the Divorce Action Group dominated the campaigns of the various abortion and divorce referendums of the 1980s and 1990s.

Elections and Voting. Elections are free and fair, with Irish citizens having the right to vote at all elections and referendums. In addition, British citizens residing in Ireland can vote in Dáil, European, and local elections. Resident EU citizens can vote at European and local elections, and any resident can vote at local elections. The minimum voting age is eighteen. Unlike in some European countries (e.g., Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg), voting is not compulsory in Ireland, but electoral turnout remained relatively high, averaging over 75 percent until the 1980s, when it began to decline in line with a similar European pattern, falling to 62 percent in 2002.

ireland

The term "Ireland" can be confusing. The entire island is known as Ireland, which was the name of the territory prior to 1922. However, under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, the southern state was known as the Irish Free State until 1937, and as Éire, Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, or simply the Republic since then; the northern jurisdiction is commonly referred to as Northern Ireland or the North. In this article, the Republic is simply referred to as Ireland.

The electoral system, proportional representations by means of the single transferable vote (PR-STV), is employed at all elections for the distributing and counting of votes. PR-STV is a system that elects members to multi-seat constituencies (three to five in Ireland). Voters rank the candidates in their order of preference (first, second, third, and so on), and a candidate needs to receive a specific quota of votes to be elected. Should a voter's first preference be neither sufficient nor necessary to get their desired candidate elected, their vote is transferred to their next preferred candidate, a process which continues until all seats have been filled by candidates who have received the required quota of votes, or when there are no more votes left to transfer. Because it is a relatively unique voting system (Malta is the only other country using PR-STV to elect its lower house of parliament), Ireland has attracted a disproportionate amount of attention from scholars of electoral systems. One other source of attention is the frequent use of the referendum (only Switzerland and Italy have held more in Europe), which occurs because any constitutional change requires a referendum. From 1937 to 2004, there were twenty-nine referendums, with sixteen since 1992. The two most common reasons for change have been related to moral issues and European integration.

personal freedoms

Freedoms of assembly, association, expression, and religion are all constitutionally guaranteed. The Freedom House index ranks Ireland as "free," awarding it the maximum score of 1 (on a scale of 1 to 7) in terms of political rights and civil liberties. Irish residents have a relatively high level of personal security, with a crime rate of just 2,541 per 100,000 persons in 2003, the

second lowest in the EU. However, the impact of the conflict in Northern Ireland has sometimes transgressed into the Republic, and there have been several high-profile incidents of terrorism, most notably simultaneous car bombings in Dublin and Monaghan in 1974 that killed thirty-three people. In addition, the prevalence of drug-running criminal gangs has increased since the 1990s. One high profile incident occurred in 1996 when one such gang murdered a prominent journalist, Veronica Guerin (1959–1996), who was investigating their activities.

Politics in Ireland have been greatly influenced by the country's relationship with Britain. As shown above, the form of government adopted is both a positive and negative reaction to the legacy of colonial rule.

The British influence also had an indirect effect as it sheltered Ireland from various social and political phenomena (e.g., centuries of warfare) that shaped European political systems. It is therefore distinct from the European paradigm for the general absence of social bases in guiding political choice, the weak role ideology has had to play in political competition, and the survival of parliamentary democracy in a small underdeveloped state.

However, it is in relation to Northern Ireland that the British influence is still most noticeably felt. It is this issue above all others that explains the disproportionate global coverage given to politics on the island, as violence and civil unrest have been a feature of political life since the twelfth century, although it is now by and large confined to the Northern jurisdiction.

See also: European Union; Northern Ireland; Parliamentary Systems; United Kingdom.

bibliography

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Liam Weeks