Laia Balcells
Laia Balcells, Lesley-Ann Daniels, and Alexander Kuo highlight the role of contentious territorial issues in shaping societal divisions. They study three European regions —Scotland, Catalonia, and Northern Ireland — that have salient territorial claims but very different histories. All three, however, exhibit striking similarities in levels of social polarisation Read more
Colm Walsh
Experimentation with citizens' assemblies is flourishing throughout the world. Using Ireland as a case study, Colm D. Walsh finds that, while these assemblies offer democracy great promise and have strong citizen support, ensuring equal participation in them remains a challenge Read more
Catherine Moury
Catherine Moury, Stella Ladi, Daniel Cardoso and Angie Gago argue that bailed-out governments during the Eurozone crisis exercised more leverage than assumed. Despite international market pressure and creditors’ conditionality, bailed-out governments were able to advocate, resist, shape or roll back some of the policies demanded by the EU’s Troika Read more
Stefan Müller
Several studies have suggested that 'irrelevant events' outside politicians’ control, like sports results or lotteries, affect voting behaviour. Such findings raise worrying questions for democracy. Yet, write Stefan Müller and Liam Kneafsey, these concerns may be overstated. In Ireland, a country with a strong sporting tradition, match outcomes do not influence citizens’ assessments of government performance, or voting behaviour Read more
Michael Keating
The United Kingdom has left the European Union in order to restore its national sovereignty. Yet the cost may be the break up of the UK itself, writes Michael Keating Read more
Anna Guildea
The Biden administration’s plans to introduce a global minimum corporate tax rate, while bringing benefits to the world economy, will have a crushing effect on economies such as Ireland, which has used low corporate tax rates as an engine of economic growth, writes Anna Guildea Read more
Jon Tonge
It’s popular to speak of Brexit bringing a United Ireland nearer, but the mixed nature of polling evidence, the divisions between nationalists and unionists and the limited mechanisms that can actually produce a referendum suggest that Irish unity may remain distant, writes Jonathan Tonge Read more
The Loop
Cutting-edge analysis showcasing the work of the political science discipline at its best.
