Organizing for Growth: Irish Public Administration 1958-2008
The Economic and Social Review, Vol. 41, No. 3, pp. 367–393, Autumn 2010
28 Pages Posted: 17 Nov 2009 Last revised: 30 Oct 2010
Date Written: June 1, 2009
Abstract
This paper analyses some key features of Irish public administration as it has developed since the foundation of the state, paying particular attention to the period from the late 1950s onward. During these decades, notwithstanding successive waves of concern expressed over the need for public sector reform, the evidence suggests an underlying lack of coherence in the evolution of the public administration system that resulted in a poor capacity for effective policy coordination. Yet the drive toward economic modernization also resulted in the creation of new state competence to support industrial development both directly and indirectly. These changes can be tracked organizationally, drawing on the database of the IRCHSS-funded Mapping the Irish State project.
Keywords: Ireland, public administration, state capacity, New Public Management, industrial policy
JEL Classification: H11, H19, H42
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation