Interrogating Irish policies / William Kingston.
Publication details: Dublin : Dublin University Press, 2007.Description: v, 148 p. ; 21 cmISBN:- 9780903200059 : (pbk.)
- 23 330.9415
Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Loanable Book | Library | Irish Collection | 330.9415 KIN (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 000449954 |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
This book republishes a series of articles which cast a cold eye on some of the underlying assumptions of Irish policy-making. It responds to the beginning of awareness in the country that these policies have been losing effectiveness, with which is associated the feeling that the good times are not going to last. Its broad theme is the harm which comes from 'Belief in the superior wisdom of the State...,' and this is followed by 'The Lemmings of Democracy,' which explains why this belief is exceptionally strong in Ireland. In the next section, 'Why Ireland failed to keep up,' 'Entrepreneurship or Rent-seeking?' and 'New Property Rights are Better than State Involvement,' discuss some consequences of this credulity about what the State can do in the Irish context. The bureaucracy plays a particularly important role in a State built on such a belief, so a third group of articles includes 'What Can We Do About the Civil Service?' 'Systemic Corporate Failure of Public Administration: Reflections on the Travers Report,' and 'An Alternative Agenda for Public Service Reform.' The fourth group contains two articles which make practical proposals, and the final chapter, 'Nice Rents If You Can Get Them,' revisits the themes of the earlier articles and adds some new ideas to them.
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