Irish Elections and Electioneering

This Chapter interrogates the logics and technologies underlying the governance of elections in Africa. It defines elections, their nature and logics. It argues that elections are tools, which integrate electoral processes and systems to deliver on the people's choice of who will govern them. 'Free and fair' presuppose the existence of a 'free and fair' electoral commission, 'free and fair' machineries to run the elections, 'free and fair' systems and procedures for the conduct of those elections. It interrogates the role of stakeholders, before, during and after the elections and argues that elections reflect the independence and sovereignty of any nation. The Chapter presents a 5Vs framework of Volume (how many vote); Velocity (Speed) – the regularity of the elections; Value (the value of the elections as perceived by voters; Veracity (the trustworthiness and authenticity of the systems and outcomes); and Variety (diversity of voters and diversity of political parties). The Chapter argues that the prerequisites to hold free and fair elections include political will from the polity; transparency; a politically educated citizenry capable to act; unity in diversity (there can be many parties and tribes), faith and trust in the electoral systems, political parties and themselves; astute and smart systems and processes and bureaucracy.

"Most political parties are created to win power democratically, but Cumann na nGaedheal was built by men already governing a country. The Cosgrave Party tells the unique story of a political party born into government amidst the bloodshed of civil war. It reveals the true complexity of Cumann na nGaedheal and investigates the internal politics of the party as it struggled with ideological tensions and personality clashes -- all occurring while its leaders simultaneously ran a government and built a state, despite threats from those both outside and within the political system. Finally, it fixes the party's role in Irish history of consolidating the tradition of constitutional nationalism in Ireland.



Reviews:

'Ciara Meehan's book brings a fresh perspective on an overlooked period of Irish history as well as insights into probable policies of Ireland's next government' -- Professor John P. McCarthy (Fordham University), The Irish Echo, 2 March 2011.


'This thought-provoking book plugs a gap in historical accounts of the Free State' -- Dr John-Paul McCarthy (Oxford University), Sunday Independent, 25 April 2011.

'Ciara Meehan’s The Cosgrave Party is the first monograph devoted solely to the Cumann na nGaedheal party, and as such is an important addition to the literature. Its novel focus on electioneering, in particular, should make this book noteworthy to historians of the Irish revolution, and to those interested in 20th-century Irish history more broadly ... this is a great addition to the literature on the 1920s' -- Professor Jason Knirck (Central Washington University), Reviews in History, 9 September 2011.
Full review here: http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1120"

This paper examines voter preferences when voters are allowed to rank order large n
bers of candidates both within and between different parties (STV-PR). How voters
plete such a ballot has consequences both for models of voting behaviour and also
patterns of party competition. More concretely, although such a system should prom
great deal of candidate centered voting behaviour, this does not, in fact, seem to for the case we examine. While Irish voters do seem to exhibit multiple party loy
they are, nevertheless, party and not candidate specific loyalties. The consequenc
this for both a Michigan account of party loyalty and also standard interpretations of
party competition are disc