Dr Jonathan Arlow, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Limerick Many scholars have attempted to address the absence of a left-led government in Ireland. But this focus on left-wing failure has meant that the unusual electoral focus of the two largest Trotskyist parties in Ireland, the Socialist Workers’ Network (SWN) and the Socialist…
Posted by Dan O’Brien Electoral systems are like exchange rate regimes – none is perfect and all have downsides. I have not suggested that changing Ireland’s system is a panacea, but rather that it, and the making more normal the way the executive is formed, would be the two biggest steps in improving the effectiveness…
The following is taken from an article of mine in The Irish Examiner, April 9 2010. It may be of interest considering the Tasmanian experience of PR-STV. THE DEVIL’S IN THE DETAIL The first thing that struck me about Australian politicians is their responsiveness. Last January I e-mailed a large number of parliamentarians, both past…
[The following is an edited summary of my remarks to the Political Reform conference, hosted by University College Cork, March 26 2010.] It is good to see that political reform is now on the agenda of some of our political leaders. More and more people are calling for large-scale political reform, with an ever-growing list…
