"Ireland and the Global Question is a sound intellectual journey that does not aim to find all the answers related to globalization and its impact, but to ask the right questions with a forward-looking approach. The impressive performance of Ireland does not stop the author from being critical of the process and asking difficult questions related to its sustainability in the long term. There is no 'one size fits all' approach to the globalization process and one of the contributions of this thoughtful analysis is precisely to emphasize that countries can learn from each other, but need to get their own policies right. This is the great challenge of our time."—Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary General
"Studies of things Irish tend to be inward-looking. This book about globalization is also global in its references and its reading. I don't know of anything quite like it."—Professor Cormac Ó Gráda, University College Dublin
Description
Ireland has been rated the number one place to live because it successfully combines the most desirable elements of a modern society—the world’s fourth highest GDP per person and low unemployment—with the preservation of certain cozy elements of the old, such as stable family and community life.
Michael J. O‘Sullivan presents the globalization of Ireland in a context of international trends in economics, international relations, and politics. His multi-disciplinary approach uncovers many of the weaknesses that lie behind the complacent and clichéd view of the Celtic Tiger. In examining Ireland’s great leap forward from a developing to a postindustrial economy, O‘Sullivan offers valuable lessons to other countries.
About the Author
Michael J. O'Sullivan was educated at UCC and Balliol College, Oxford, and has taught economics at Princeton University. He currently works in the City of London.
October 2006