Irelnd Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3750 words

Irelnd - Essay Example Much of this success hs been the outcome of dynmic socil progrms developed by Irish government nd dministrtive deprtments imed to chieve greter socil performnce. It ws bsiclly Irelnd's ttempt to provide good working reltionship within the country s well s to rech consequency in immigrtion policy nd interntionliztion process tht shped country's socil policy. The generl orienttion in setting socil politicl or economic gols ws reching greement with the United Kingdom tht would enble the two governments to chieve significnt progress in the serch for pece in Northern Irelnd. These nd other fctors of internl nd externl socil policy of Republic of Irelnd will be exmined in the following pper. Prticulr focus on the interntionl sources of politicl, economic, nd socil trnsformtion will be mde to cover the ptterns of the topic. It is rgued tht these influences hve been the primry source of chnge in Irelnd since 1980 nd hve produced significnt benefits s well s certin problems for Irish society. Together with pressures for chnge by modernizing elites within Irelnd, who themselves were motivted prtly by their interntionl perspective, these internl nd externl fctors of socil policy hve creted synergistic process of chnge tht hs trnsformed the nture of Irish society. Due to Irish dispor nd close economic ties to Britin, Irelnd hs lwys hd significnt interntionl links nd strong position on interntionl mrket. But the trditionlism of Irish culture, reflected especilly by the profound nd powerful plce of the Ctholic Church, gve the ntion n insulr nd defensive qulity from independence through the 1960s. However by the erly 1990s the Republic of Irelnd hd received reputtion s highly dynmic, modern, nd successful ntion. Rpid economic growth in the 1990s hs resulted in high economic indictors nd nd result positive chnged in socil policy of the country. In 1996 per cpit gross domestic product (GDP) ws bigger thn the United Kingdom (UK) figure, nd growth since 1992 hs been especilly strong (Irelnd, 1997). In fct, through 1993-1999 Irelnd hd the highest GDP growth rte in the Europen Union (EU), nd its per cpit GDP by 1999 ws 112% of the EU verge (Europen Union, 2001). The consequences of culturl chnge produced verifictions to Irish economy nd prospects of its politicl sitution. In the erly 80th, Irelnd ws poor compred to the UK nd Europe's dvnced economies. But it ws not poor in comprison to the economies of Norwy nd nd Finlnd for exmple. (Kennedy, Giblin, & McHugh, 1988, pp. 14-15). Its popultion ws reltively literte, nd its trnsporttion fcilities, bnks, nd housing were reltively modern. lthough not industrilized, it nevertheless hd productive griculturl sector nd followed contemporry business prctices (Hughton, 1995). Of prticulr importnce ws griculturl reform prior to independence tht hd turned ntion where mny hd been exploited tennt frmers into n griculturl system chrcterized by privte ownership by independent frmers. long with significntly incresed interntionliztion of the Irish culture, lte 90th hve produced sound openness nd liberlism in the country (Gllign, 1996, 1998; O'Toole, 1996, pp. 11-22). Of gret importnce is the Good Fridy greement reched in pril 1998 tht creted opportunities for peceful settlement