"Employment programs in Ireland 1987-1999: National, sub-national and supra -national governance in a globalized political economy"

Boyle, Nigel. (2003) "Employment programs in Ireland 1987-1999: National, sub-national and supra -national governance in a globalized political economy". In: UNSPECIFIED, Nashville, TN. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This paper examines how sovereignty is being reconfigured in the Irish political economy. The constitutive features of the "Celtic Tiger" are characterized as: (a) a strategically "competitive nationalism" focused on maximizing foreign direct investment, (b) a simultaneously internationalized and localized domestic governance regime centered on a European model of "competitive social partnership," and (c) a "flexible developmental state" that enjoyed "embedded autonomy." The conventional explanation of the Celtic Tiger focuses on the alliance between an insulated, technocratic state agency, the Industrial Development Authority, and multinational corporations. This paper examines the role of FAS, the Irish Training and Employment Authority, the agency responsible for active labor market policy. It identifies a crucial coalition between FAS, the European Commission and local/regional social entrepreneurs as the basis for an interventionist policy that has been critical to the success of the tiger economy. The parochial and highly responsive nature of Irish politics and the sovereignty-diffusing role of the EU can be seen to be the driving forces behind dramatic policy and institutional innovation.

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