In order to examine institutional change in Republic of Ireland (hereinafter referred to as ‘Irel... more In order to examine institutional change in Republic of Ireland (hereinafter referred to as ‘Ireland’ or ‘the Irish case’) as a consequence of European integration, this article looks at the adaptation of national institutions subsequent to EU membership. A new institutionalist approach is taken towards the definition and discussion of institutions in order that the analysis may encompass the broadest range of changes consequent to EU membership: in relation to national structures; decision-making patterns; socialization processes; and overall ‘system change’. The analysis uses the organizing concepts offered by Bulmer and Burch (1998) in their evaluation of the impact of Europeanization on national systems of public administration in Britain. According to this framework, ‘institutions can be analysed in terms of four gradations moving from the formal, through the informal, to the normative and cultural’ (Bulmer and Burch 1998, p. 604).
This article describes the development of an innovative teaching method to help political science... more This article describes the development of an innovative teaching method to help political science students deepen their comprehension of public policy through engaging with real world scenarios. It describes the development of a constructivist learning environment (CLE) (Jonassen, 1999) for students in a postgraduate public policy module, fashioned by integrating a problem-based learning (PBL) approach with civic engagement processes. The article concludes by examining the potential of this approach as a teaching method and reflecting on student and staff feedback as well as on benefits described by partner organizations and the broader public.
In order to examine institutional change in Republic of Ireland (hereinafter referred to as ‘Irel... more In order to examine institutional change in Republic of Ireland (hereinafter referred to as ‘Ireland’ or ‘the Irish case’) as a consequence of European integration, this article looks at the adaptation of national institutions subsequent to EU membership. A new institutionalist approach is taken towards the definition and discussion of institutions in order that the analysis may encompass the broadest range of changes consequent to EU membership: in relation to national structures; decision-making patterns; socialization processes; and overall ‘system change’. The analysis uses the organizing concepts offered by Bulmer and Burch (1998) in their evaluation of the impact of Europeanization on national systems of public administration in Britain. According to this framework, ‘institutions can be analysed in terms of four gradations moving from the formal, through the informal, to the normative and cultural’ (Bulmer and Burch 1998, p. 604).
This article describes the development of an innovative teaching method to help political science... more This article describes the development of an innovative teaching method to help political science students deepen their comprehension of public policy through engaging with real world scenarios. It describes the development of a constructivist learning environment (CLE) (Jonassen, 1999) for students in a postgraduate public policy module, fashioned by integrating a problem-based learning (PBL) approach with civic engagement processes. The article concludes by examining the potential of this approach as a teaching method and reflecting on student and staff feedback as well as on benefits described by partner organizations and the broader public.
The contemporary university agenda has shifted. Where there was once a desire to educate and gene... more The contemporary university agenda has shifted. Where there was once a desire to educate and generate research, these objectives have now become much more complex. Universities must attend to a variety of pedagogies and learning approaches. Research must now satisfy stakeholders, policy makers and taxpayers with plans for 'knowledge transfer' and impact studies. Increasing demands to demonstrate 'value for money' are accompanied by decreasing public investment and funding. This article looks at one Irish university's attempt to respond to manage this shift in ways that preserve the central mission of the university whilst integrating new demands for a 'civic shift'.
This is a review of a collection of essays entitled Questioning Ireland: debates in political phi... more This is a review of a collection of essays entitled Questioning Ireland: debates in political philosophy and public policy, edited by Joseph Dunne, Attracta Ingram and Frank Litton, published in Dublin by the Institute of Public Administration in 2000
The Youth Global Awareness Programme (YGAP) is a 2-week residential ‘popular education’ programme... more The Youth Global Awareness Programme (YGAP) is a 2-week residential ‘popular education’ programme for young, diverse, international, labour movement activists, run by the International Federation of Workers Education Associations in Cape Town, South Africa. In this mixed method study (N = 47), we draw on the Social Identity Approach to Education and Learning. We propose that the participatory, peer-to-peer learning during YGAP leads to activist identity change, where critical consciousness, collective empowerment and global awareness develop as group norms. The first longitudinal questionnaire study found significant increases in activist identity and critical consciousness, which predicted increased collective empowerment. In the second focus group study, data were analysed with reflexive thematic analysis and two themes provide compelling evidence of learning during YGAP as identity change processes. Participants’ commonalities and differences enhanced activist identities with glo...
With the odd exception (Wallace, 2000), the term ‘Europeanisation’ has come to be used in referen... more With the odd exception (Wallace, 2000), the term ‘Europeanisation’ has come to be used in reference to the impact of the European Union (EU) across member states (Bulmer and Burch, 1998). Assessing the nature of this impact is, however, extremely problematic. The EU does not present a single over-arching ‘European principle of organization’ that we might examine for evidence of its influence. Analysis of change within European states also runs into the problem of separating out ‘Europeanisation’ from other equally plausible variables. Finally, assuming that these difficulties can be overcome, there remains the methodological problem of how to compare the impact of the EU and/or Europeanisation in quite differently constituted national state forms. The point of this article is to try to elucidate a framework that avoids these problems. Taking the focus of analysis to the meso level, the policy networks approach is utilised to provide comparative characterizations of cross-national po...
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