Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

A Comparative Examination Of The Nature Of Change In Macroeconomic Policies, John Hogan

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This article examines the impact of economic crises on macroeconomic policies in Ireland in the late 1950s and Sweden in the early 1980s, framed within the context of the policy change literature. Each of these countries‟ responses to the crises affecting them, tempered as they were by historical and political factors, provides valuable insights into their political economies. These findings enable us to compare and contrast the nature of each crisis and the policy responses adopted. The value of such comparison is in the perspective it offers, contributing to the goal of building a body of increasingly complete explanatory theory …

Reporting The Rhetoric, Implementation Of The United Nations Convention On The Rights Of The Child As Represented In Ireland's Second Report To The Un Committee On The Rights Of The Child: A Critical Discourse Analysis, Rachel Kiersey, Noirin Hayes

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Ireland’s second periodic report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) presents the government’s case that it is succeeding in protecting and promoting the rights of all children in Ireland. This article presents a critical discourse analysis of the governments Report to the CRC. Using a refined critical discourse analysis (CDA) model, based on the framework proposed by Chouliaraki & Fairclough (1999); the linguistic structure of the Report is examined alongside consideration of the wider socio-political context in which it exists. The Report is itself a promotional genre . It lists legislative change, strategy plans …

Economic Crises And Policy Change In The Early 1980s: A Four Country Comparison, John Hogan

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This article examines the impact of economic crises on macroeconomic

policies in the United States (US), Mexico, Ireland, and Sweden at the

start of the 1980s, framed within the context of the policy change

literature. These countries are selected for examination as they

encompass presidential, parliamentary, republican, constitutional

monarchical, federal and unitary systems of governance. Two are

European states and two are from the Americas: two are large economies

while two are small.

Each country’s response to the crisis affecting it, tempered by historical

and political factors, provides an insight into that political economy.

These findings enable us compare and …

Payback: The 1920/1921 Agib Sltu Strike In The Dublin Building Industry, John Hogan

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In late 1920 a strike began in the building industry in Dublin that was to last until June of the following year. It effectively shut down building sites all across the city. The primary protagonists involved in the dispute were the Ancient Guild of Incorporated Brick and Stonelayers Trade Union (AGIBSLTU) and the building employers association, the Dublin Building Trades Employers’ Association (DBTEA). Both of these bodies had fought a bitterly contested lockout 15 years before, which had almost destroyed the union. In 1920, by dint of wider economic circumstances, and a belligerent determination, the union was to have the …

Handle With Care, Ellen Hazelkorn

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This article discusses the impact of rankings on higher education.

Constructing And Disrupting Ireland's Industrial Development Authority, Paul Donnelly

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Actor-network theory is considered to have great potential for broadening and deepening our grasp of institutional work (LAWRENCE; SUDDABY, 2006). Given its focus on process, ANT offers a means to breathe life into the practices associated with institutionalization. With Callon’s (1986) four moments of translation as analytical lens, and with Ireland’s Industrial Development Authority as empirical example, I seek to address the concerns of Clegg and Machado da Silva (2009) by reconsidering “the role of agency, power, persistence and change in the process of institutionalization”.

Arís Is Arís Eile: Scéalta Mar Ais Teanga Sa Naíonra, Maire Mhic Mhathuna

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Achoimre Déantar cur síos san alt seo ar ról na scéalta agus na leabhar mar áis fhoghlamtha teanga is scéalaíochta sa naíonra Gaelach. Déantar anailís ar an teoiric a bhaineann le forbairt na teanga is na scéalaíochta féin sa chéad is sa dara teanga. Deineadh cluastaifeadadh ar na seisiúin scéalaíochta i naíonra Gaelach amháin gach coicís ar feadh sé mhí. Scagadh na hathscríbhinní chun féachaint cén modh scéalaíochta a bhí in úsáid ag na stiúrthóirí is cén dul chun cinn a bhí á dhéanamh ag na páistí. Tugtar cuntas anseo ar na straitéisí scéalaíochta a bhí in úsáid ag na …

Site Value Tax, Tom Dunne

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Tom Dunne discusses some of the issues surrounding property taxation in Ireland

Reseacher As Whistleblower: The Ethical Challenges Posed By Sensitive Research, Tom Clonan

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This paper will explore the complex ethical issues raised when ‘non traditional’ insider research is conducted in sensitive and secretive workplace settings. The paper will outline the experiences of the author between 1996 and 2000 - as a Captain in the Irish Army - when he conducted PhD research into the status and roles assigned female personnel in the Irish military. This research uncovered evidence of the widespread bullying, harassment, sexual harassment and sexual assault of female soldiers, sailors and air crew in the Irish military. The paper will address a number of ethical issues as they apply to the …

Current Policy Developments In European Media Literacy, Brian O'Neill

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In August of 2009, the European Commission issued a formal recommendation on media literacy adding to a series of initiatives underway since 2006 to build a comprehensive European media literacy policy (Commission of the European Communities 2009). Media literacy is now a well-established concept referring to the ability to critically understand and use media in a variety of contexts (see Aufderheide 1997). Recognising that the way people use media is changing and that the volume of information received is enormous, the Commission notes that all citizens need to have the ability to access, analyse and evaluate images, sounds and texts …

What If: Hitler's Invasion Of Ireland, Tom Clonan

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Seventy years ago this summer, Hitler’s general staff drew up detailed plans to invade Ireland. In June of 1940, Germany’s 1st Panzer Division had just driven the British Expeditionary Force into the sea at Dunkirk. Churchill labeled Britain’s rout and the evacuation of approximately 330,000 British and allied troops a ‘miracle of deliverance’. The Nazis intoxicated with their victory in France considered themselves unstoppable and were determined to press their advance into Britain and Ireland. Germany’s invasion plans for Britain were codenamed ‘Operation Sealion’. Their invasion plans for Ireland were codenamed ‘Unternehmen Grun’ or ‘Operation Green’. Like Operation Sealion, Operation …

Women On The Frontline Across Irish Defence Forces, Tom Clonan

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This year marks the 30th anniversary of the enlistment of women to the Irish Defence Forces. Whilst Irish women fought in the 1916 Rising and were combatants in the War of Independence and Civil War, they were largely excluded from the newly formed Free State Army of the 1920s. Dr. Bridget Lyons Thornton was an exception to this rule and was commissioned as an officer at the rank of Lieutenant in 1923. She was demobilised in 1924, and aside from the Army’s Nursing Service, the Defence Forces were to remain an all-male preserve for almost sixty years. The ‘men-only’ status …

Simulated Afghan Towns: Us Military Training Grounds Germany, Tom Clonan

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Spin Boldoz is an Afghan town in Kandahar province close to the border with Pakistan. As we approach the town – with the US 2nd Cavalry Stryker Regiment – the town’s market square is teeming with Afghan civilians haggling over stalls of fruit and vegetables. Smoke from cooking fires and braziers mix with the diesel exhaust of the Stryker Brigade’s armoured vehicles. Donkeys, goats and sheep are tethered and ready for sale. The regiment’s radios are humming with chatter and overhead an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) buzzes lazily over the town. Lurching to a halt, the troops dismount from the …

Us Military And Civilian Surge In Afghanistan, Tom Clonan

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US and British casualty figures in Afghanistan experienced a dramatic surge in 2010. A total of 499 US troops and 103 British soldiers were killed by the Taliban last year with thousands more seriously injured by improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The casualty statistics for Afghanistan paint a grim picture of the US-led International Security Assistance Force’s (ISAF) campaign against the Taliban. ISAF’s war in Afghanistan deteriorated significantly in 2007 as the Taliban re-grouped, re-organised and finessed its counter-insurgency strategy against NATO. For example, the number of US and British troops killed in action by the Taliban on an annual basis …

The Discourses Of Higher Education In Ireland: Religion, Nationalism And Economic Development, Nora French

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Higher education is shaped and changed by the context in which it operates. For the past several decades, it has been shaped in Ireland by plans for economic development and the focus has been on education as an enabler of wealth creation. It is claimed to have been an important factor in the rise of the Celtic Tiger economy, and the government are again looking to education as a main contributor to recovery from the current recession. This focus marked a major change in Irish higher education. It was in sharp opposition to the deep-seated tradition of liberal education based …

Measuring Up: The Experience Of Libqual+™ At Itt Dublin Library, Philip Russell

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This article provides an outline of the LibQUAL+™ web-based survey conducted in 2009 at ITT (Technological University Dublin) Dublin library, capturing some of the main findings, feedback from those who participated, lessons learnt and proposed future actions. The library service at ITT Dublin is committed to enhancing quality, and part of this process involves communicating and engaging with our users to determine their requirements and respond to their ongoing needs. In March 2009, asa part of our efforts in providing a more customer- focused and improved library service, the library at ITT Dublin carried out an online library user survey, …

Researcher Suite: Selection And Implementation – The Hosted Option, Niamh Walker-Headon

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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a case study of the selection process used to select the ReSearcher Suite, and its implementation including an outline of why and how the suite was implemented at the Library in the Institute of Technology in Tallaght.

Design/methodology/approach – Case study – single site.

Findings – The Simon Frasier University (SFU) hosted ReSearcher Suite (with support) provides an open source solution for open URL linking integrated with inter-library loan submission, federated searching, knowledge base, coverage data, and A-Z listings for journals and databases. While it does not have the full …

The Planned And The Unplanned: A Roundtable Discussion On The Legacies Of Michel Foucault And Norbert Elias, Sam Binkley, Paddy Dolan, Stefanie Ernst, Cas Wouters

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When one considers the proximity of their concerns, it is perhaps surprising that the works of Norbert Elias and Michel Foucault have not been more systematically compared and discussed. However, the differentiation of disciplinary knowledge (particularly the boundary that separates philosophy from social theory), com-pounded by parochialisms fostered by the cult of the intellectual, have delayed this process far past its due. This conversation, which began in 2008 at a conference on the works of Elias and Foucault at the University of Hamburg, is, in this regard, an effort to make up for lost time. Fashioned from hours of discussion …

Space, Time And The Constitution Of Subjectivity: Comparing Elias And Foucault, Paddy Dolan

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The work of Foucault and Elias has been compared before in the social sciences and humanities, but here I argue that the main distinction between their approaches to the construction of subjectivity is the relative importance of space and time in their accounts. This is not just a matter of the “history of ideas,” as providing for the temporal dimension more fully in theories of subjectivity and the habitus allows for a greater understanding of how ways of being, acting and feeling in different spaces are related but largely unintended. Here I argue that discursive practices, governmental operations and technologies …

Of Discipline And Civilization: A Roundtable Discussion On The Legacies Of Norbert Elias And Michel Foucault, Sam Binkley, Paddy Dolan, Stefanie Ernst, Cas Wouters

Articles

When one considers the proximity of their concerns, it is perhaps surprising that the works of Norbert Elias and Michel Foucault have not been more systematically compared and discussed. However, the differentiation of disciplinary knowledge (particularly the boundary that separates philosophy from social theory), com-pounded by parochialisms fostered by the cult of the intellectual, have delayed this process far past its due. This conversation, which began in 2008 at a conference on the works of Elias and Foucault at the University of Hamburg, is, in this regard, an effort to make up for lost time. Fashioned from hours of discussion …

The Civilizing And Sportization Of Gaelic Football In Ireland: 1884–2009, John Connolly, Paddy Dolan

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Over the course of the last 125 years the sport of Gaelic football in Ireland has undergone a sportization and civilizing process as the rules governing the sport became stricter and players developed greater levels of self-control. However, the civilizing of Gaelic football was a particularly fragile and uneven process. The growing social desire to diminish displays of violence was moderated by ambivalence towards violence. Gradually the external social controls on players increased and, greater and more stable levels of internalization occurred reflected by more advanced levels of player self-restraint in the control of violence. At the same time the …

The Benefits Of Holidaying For Children Experiencing Social Exclusion: Recent Irish Evidence, Bernadette Quinn, Jane Stacey

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There is a general assumption in contemporary society that holidaying is beneficial in many ways. Yet, even in affluent societies, access to holidaying opportunities continues to be constrained by a variety of factors relating to inter alia income, gender, health and race. This is problematic because it means that sizeable minorities within advanced societies are being denied the benefits that researchers have attributed to the practice of holidaying. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in problematising the exclusionist nature of holidaying with researchers arguing that a lack of holiday opportunities may compound social deprivation, reinforce social problems and heighten …

Care-Givers, Leisure And The Meaning Of Home: A Case Study Of Low Income Women In Dublin, Bernadette Quinn

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This article seeks to contribute to the literature on the meanings of domestic spaces by furthering understandings of the sorts of roles that space plays in shaping women’s leisure experiences. The study researched a group of 15 women who live in disadvantaged areas of Dublin city and care for dependent children. Focus groups and structured conversations revealed the poverty of the spatial capital available to these women, depicting local environments as difficult and stressful, and to be endured rather than enjoyed. They further revealed the extent to which the women’s lives were shaped by their obligations as care-givers. Within the …

'Have We All Gone Bats?' - The Strict Protection Of Wildlife Under The Habitats Directive And Tourism Development: Some Lessons From Ireland, Marc Mcdonald

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This article explores the impact of the legal protection of bats under EU wildilfe legislation on tourism development in Ireland.

Towards An Understanding Of International City Break Travel, Gerard Dunne, Sheila Flanagan, Joan Buckley

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This paper explores city break tourism and in particular the distinctive characteristics of this form of travel. The city break is examined and compared to other types of trips. The research follows a sequential mixed methods approach involving both a visitor survey and in-depth interviews. The findings show the international city break trip to have a number of distinctive characteristics. These are summarised into five main areas (5 Ds) – duration, distance, date flexibility, discretionary nature, and destination travel party. These distinguishing features provide a useful insight into one of the most important yet least examined travel segments in tourism …

Contribution Of Tertiary Education To Human Capital Development, Labour Market And Skills In The State Of Victoria, Australia, Ellen Hazelkorn

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This chapter examines how effectively TAFE Institutes and universities in the State of Victoria contribute to meeting the social and economic needs of the population in terms of opportunities to study and relevance of the qualifications offered. It identifies some key achievements and areas for improvement. The chapter closes with a series of recommendations that include the need for a greater system approach to tertiary education in order to support sustainable regional development and the role that the State of Victoria can play in this strategy.

Media Literacy And Communication Rights: Ethical Individualism In The New Media Environment, Brian O'Neill

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The dominant discourse of media literacy policy espouses an ethical individualism within the digital media environment in which the source of moral values and principles, and the basis of ethical evaluation, is the individual. In this perspective, even vulnerable citizens such as children and young people, who tend to be in the vanguard of new media adoption, are required to negotiate the risks and opportunities of the online world with diminishing degrees of institutional support from trusted information sources. Noticeably absent from this discourse is any consideration of the notion of communication rights. Examining an alternative conceptualization of media literacy …

Child Sexual Abuse, Links To Later Sexual Exploitation/High-Risk Sexual Behavior, And Prevention/Treatment Programs, Kevin Lalor, Rosaleen Mcelvaney

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This paper reviews the literature on the nature and incidence of child sexual abuse, explores the link between child sexual abuse and later sexual exploitation, and reviews the literature on prevention strategies and effective interventions in child sexual abuse services. Our understanding of the international epidemiology of child sexual abuse is considerably greater than it was just 10 years ago, and studies from around the world are examined. Childhood sexual abuse can involve a wide number of psychological sequelae, including low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. Numerous studies have noted that child sexual abuse victims are vulnerable to later sexual revictimization, …

Serving Unaffiliated Distance Learners: Strategies That Work, Lisa T. Nickel, Rachel G. Mulvihill

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Dealing with unaffiliated distance learning students can be a daunting task for many public as well as academic librarians. This article will discuss strategies for providing reference to these students by gathering information on what services they are offered via their home institutions, and helping them navigate the often confusing landscape of library resources and services. Authors will outline the challenges and opportunities for public libraries presented by distance learners and suggest some services that might be provided for them. Finally, we will discuss the opportunities for outreach to distance learning students from both public and academic libraries.

Implicit Theories Of Ability Of Grade 6 Science Students: Relation To Epistemological Beliefs And Academic Motivation And Achievement In Science, Jason Chen, Frank Pajares

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We investigated (a) the associations of implicit theories and epistemological beliefs and their effects on the academic motivation and achievement of students in Grade 6 science and (b) the mean differences of implicit theories, epistemological beliefs, and academic motivation and achievement as a function of gender and race/ethnicity (N = 508). Path analysis revealed that an incremental view of ability had direct and indirect effects on adaptive motivational factors, whereas fixed entity views had direct and indirect effects on maladaptive factors. Epistemological beliefs mediated the influence of implicit theories of ability on achievement goal orientations, self-efficacy, and science achievement. Results …