Ireland, Small Open Economies and European Integration: Lost in Transition

Presents a development model for the recovery of the Irish polity post-2008 financial crisis and traces and compares the evolution of the development models of Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Ireland from 1987 to 2012, considering how those four countries managed the process of Europeanization. Explores the core Polanyian tension between markets and social protection, with particular reference to the capacity of selected small, open economies to manage that tension as compared with Ireland. Discusses the world of Peter J. Katzenstein--the major historical events that contributed to the formation of the polities of Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, and Ireland, as well as how the development models evolved as European integration intensified; 1994-2001--the age of employment miracles; 2001-08--European integration intensifies; going beyond 2008--coping with the crisis; and unpacking Ireland's polity from a new institutionalist perspective. Begg is Director of the Think Tank for Action on Social Change and former General Secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. Bibliography; index.