It could be said that Ireland has had four phases of development: the first as the country emerged from its fledgling days of independence and civil war before the Second World War; the second one of institutional stabilisation and development in the 1950s and 1960s (think Todd Andrews, TK Whitaker, and the rest); and the third through EEC membership and a series of political crises in the 1970s and 1980s. The fourth – through the last thirty years or so – has seen commercial and corporate success, relative affluence, and international recognition as a beacon of prosperity and peace. Through that time, however, there have been several high-profile scandals, beginning with those in the church, then in the banks, and in recent days an unfolding one within the state broadcaster. Do these scandals have anything in common?
Continue reading “The Legitimacy of Institutions and Political Decay”
State Legitimacy 