Electoral Competition in Ireland since 1987: The politics of triumph and despair

Broadcaster Miriam O’Callaghan has launched the new book, Electoral Competition in Ireland since 1987: The politics of triumph and despair at the Royal Irish Academy.

The book, authored by Professor Gary Murphy of DCU’s School of Law & Government and published by Manchester University Press, is a major new account of the politics of modern Ireland.  

This study offers a rigorous analysis of the forces which shaped both how the Irish state governed itself from the period since 1987 and how it lost its economic sovereignty in 2010.  It comprehensively assesses the last quarter century in Irish electoral politics from the time of the end of a deep recession in 1987 to the general election of 2011 where Ireland was ruled by the Troika and austerity was a by-word for both policy-making and how many Irish people lived their lives.

The book analyses why the political system in Ireland was unable to stop the country losing its economic sovereignty and why the Irish electorate kept returning to political alternatives which they had rejected in the past. Written in a lively and engaging style it offers rich insights into the politics of modern Ireland and how Irish citizens have lived through a period combining triumphant euphoria and deep despair.

Professor Gary Murphy was a member of the Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee whose report was published in May 2013 and formed the basis for the Irish local elections of 2014. He has long been a campaigner for the reform of Seanad Eireann and was a leading member of Democracy Matters, the group established in 2013 to campaign for comprehensive Seanad reform and against the Seanad's abolition.  He is currently engaged in a long term biographical study of the former Taoiseach and Fianna Fail leader Charles J. Haughey.