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The article provides a comparative analysis of core executive adaptation to engagement with the European Union in three states: Ireland, Greece and Finland. To date, the substantive focus of the literature on executive adaptation has been on the question of convergence or continuing divergence of national responses. The dominant conclusion points to the continuing divergence of national responses. The analytical framework that guided the empirical work in this paper was divided into two inter-related institutional components: structures and processes, and the agents who actively engage with the EU's governance structures. The comparative analysis provides evidence of both convergence and continuing diversity. In managing Europe from home, states appear to choose from a menu of possible models, prime ministerial-led or foreign ministry-led systems. Two variables stand out in explaining variation across the three states, the level of institutionalisation and the relationship between formal and informal processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a prerequisite to shape EU policies in day-to-day negotiations, states have to know what they want and have to quickly produce good instructions. This paper analyses how domestic coordination practices influence the timing and quality of national positions. Are some states in a better position to develop instructions quickly? Are some states more likely to end up with low quality positions? In effect, three factors are crucial to the production of timely and good instructions: good cooperation between Permanent Representations and the lead ministries, autonomous lead ministries that prioritise EU work and good inter-ministerial conflict resolution systems. States such as Luxembourg and Ireland are close to these ideal practices and tend to develop good instructions swiftly, while others, such as Greece and Cyprus, frequently end up with delayed and suboptimal instructions that make it difficult for them to actively participate in EU negotiations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of the radical or extreme right parties in Europe - parties usually noted for strong, sometimes racist anti-immigrant ideologies - has attracted a great deal of attention in political science. Ireland, despite having some conditions favourable to the growth of such a party has no radical right party. This paper argues that that this is because the 'space' usually occupied by such parties - for young, poor people disaffected by economic change - is taken up by Sinn Fein, which though it has similarities to radical right parties, differs markedly in its attitudes to immigrants. It goes on to explain the special circumstances that prevent nationalist parties in Ireland from presenting overtly anti-immigrant platforms. The focus on anti-immigration and liberal economic policies for such parties may mean that other parties with strong resemblances are excluded from studies they might usefully be included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years there has been growing interest in the role of discourses of globalisation and European integration in shaping political outcomes. As a variety of authors have suggested, these discourses may play a powerful causal role in determining the trajectory of policy change and, as such, should be treated as objects of enquiry in their own right. Yet, while much recent scholarship has pointed to the need for systematic empirical analysis of policy-making discourses, little such analysis has yet been undertaken. Our aim in this paper is to contribute to this task, by mapping contemporary appeals to globalisation and European integration in two EU states: Britain and the Irish Republic. We present findings from the discourse analysis (using QSR NVivo) of over 100 speeches backed by supplementary interviews in both cases. Building upon, extending and updating an earlier discussion, we develop a theoretical schema for the classification and mapping of a range of different discourses of globalisation and European integration. These we categorise in terms of the contingent or inevitable character attributed to the process in question and the positive, open-ended or negative connotations it is seen to entail. What becomes apparent is the highly strategic ways in which such discourses are used, the articulation of which depends greatly upon the context in which they are deployed and the audience for which they are intended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What motivates political parties in the legislative arena? Existing legislative bargaining models stress parties’ office and policy motivations. A particularly important question concerns how parties in coalition government agree the distribution of cabinet seats. This article adds to the portfolio allocation literature by suggesting that future electoral considerations affect bargaining over the allocation of cabinet seats in multi-party cabinets. Some parties are penalised by voters for participating in government, increasing the attractiveness of staying in opposition. This ‘cost of governing’ shifts their seat reservation price - the minimum cabinet seats demanded in return for joining the coalition. Results of a randomised survey experiment of Irish legislators support our expectation, demonstrating that political elites are sensitive to future electoral losses when contemplating the distribution of cabinet seats. This research advances our understanding of how parties’ behaviour between elections is influenced by anticipation of voters’ reactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the general election in Ireland in February 2016. Topics mentioned include the predominance of political party Fianna Fáil, the success of politician Enda Kenny as the first leader of political party Fine Gael since the 1920s to retain the prime minister's office, and Kenny's negotiation with several non-party politicians and a confidence and supply agreement with Fianna Fáil.

The current political climate in the European Union, referred to as the ‘constraining dissensus’, may place negotiations on the multiannual EU budget centre stage. Media framing of EU budget negotiations as conflict between member states may reinforce the constraining dissensus by resonating with exclusive national identity. In contrast, media emphasis on conflict within or across member states may alleviate the constraining dissensus by strengthening cross-cutting cleavages. This study tests hypotheses about patterns in politicisation of the EU budget in three budgets (Delors II, Agenda 2000, Financial Perspectives 2007–2013), three countries (the Netherlands, Denmark and Ireland) and two forums (media and national parliaments). It finds predominant international conflict framing, especially in media. Thus, media coverage of EU budget negotiations likely reinforces the constraining dissensus. However, as debates intensify, the constraining dissensus may be loosened through more pluralist framing in the debates. Further comparative empirical research into the dynamics of politicisation is called for. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Generally the assumption is that legislators act to maximise their chances of re-election, with their optimal behaviour determined by the party-centred or candidate-centred nature of the electoral system in use. Existing evidence of the impact of members' actual behaviour on subsequent electoral performance is inconclusive. This research explores whether or not legislators who choose to focus on cultivating personal votes reap rewards from the electorate under the Single Transferable Vote (STV) electoral system. Exploring electoral reward under STV is particularly significant because some legislators face intra-party competition for votes while others do not - a key determining incentive for cultivating personal votes. This study uses a survey of Irish legislators in 2002 and 2007 to measure constituency orientation and effort. The data suggest an electoral reward for personal vote cultivation, although the relationship between intra-system incentive and reward is apparently not always as expected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article locates Ireland's relatively recent experience with mass immigration within a comparative West European context. It poses two questions: To what degree has Ireland become a 'normal' country of immigration? What does the Irish case reveal about the contemporary politics of migration to Western Europe? The article's main finding is that Ireland's experience with mass immigration since the 1990s appears to be following a political trajectory similar to that of the traditional immigration-receiving states, despite being separated from the latter by as many as four decades. This said, the evidence suggests that some of the policy challenges precipitated by mass immigrant settlement may be currently arriving earlier in time than previously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 1987 the Republic of Ireland has experimented with new forms of policy consultation and formulation that have been credited with turning the country into the ‘Celtic Tiger’ economy of the 1990s. One of the most important of these new forms is a series of social partnership agreements that have become increasingly broad in scope over the past decade and a half. This article illustrates how the process of social partnership pact-making is able to assist in steering a new policy direction, and investigates what makes these social partnership agreements able to be reproduced over time, by focusing on the development of policies for reconciling family and working life in Ireland. This is an important and pressing issue for many post-industrial economies, and, without claiming too much for the partnership process since problems of reconciling family and working life are far from ‘solved’ in Ireland, social partnership has helped turn this from being a marginal to a key issue in Irish politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the transition in Ireland over the last 15 years from a relatively unco-ordinated approach to pay determination to a co-ordinated approach linking pay policy into the broader context of national economic governance. The new political model of 'social partnership' was central to the remarkable experience of growth, employment expansion, and rising living standards in Ireland during the 1990s. This very success brought new challenges to the strategy of politically mediated pay pacts. The prospects for the sustainability of these new networks of economic governance are examined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]