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News Archive 

 

Seed money applications due by deadline 16th April 2010

The SSRC will consider applications for small grants of up to a maximum of €500 to sponsor individual initiatives in the social sciences, for instance, an initial meeting of potential research partners, for conference travel expences, contribution toward fieldwork expenses, support for a postgraduate researcher and suchlike.

Applications for funding should reach The SSRC, St Declan’s, Distillery Road, NUI Galway (or by emailing oliver.p.feeneynuigalway.ie ) by April 16th 2010. Both successful and unsuccessful applicants will be informed shortly afterwards. Applications after this date will be considered but only if funds are available. Please email:  oliver.p.feeneynuigalway.ie for further information.

NEW SSRC CENTRE ON NATIONALISM AND ORGANISED VIOLENCE

The Centre for the Study of Nationalism and Organised Violence (CSNOV)

Directed by Dr Sinisa Malesevic and Dr Niall O Dochartaigh, this research centre focuses on the comparative, theoretical and empirical study of the relationship between nationalism and organised violence. It aims to provide an inter-disciplinary forum for the long term macro historical as well as the micro interactional analyses of ethnic conflicts, warfare and coercive social action. The analytical spotlight is on the significance of organised violence as a source of conflict and cohesion, its role in formation and maintenance of modern nation-states and its link with the nationalist ideologies. For more details, please go to our 'Specialised Centres' section.

Launch of H.E.A.P. Report

The 'Hierarchy of Earnings, Attributes and Privilege (H.E.A.P.) Report has been recently launched by TASC and ICTU. This report was authored by Professor Terrence McDonough and Jason Loughrey and the SSRC is pleased to have been involved in its production. According to Professor McDonough, the H.E.A.P. Chart "graphically depicts the structure of income inequality among households in Ireland, [including] information about family structure and the occupations of adult family members".

For more information about the report and the launch, please see: http://www.ictu.ie/press/2009/11/18/ictu-and-tasc-launch-heap-report-on-income-inequality/  

For the report itself, please see: http://www.tascnet.ie/upload/file/9644 HEAP BOOKLET(1).pdf

SSRC Annual Lecture 2009

This year, the SSRC Annual Lecture was given by Professor Mitchell Dean, Professor of Sociology and Research Professor for the Centre for Research on Social Inclusion in the Macquarie University, Australia. He is the author of Governmentality: power and rule in modern societies which, possibly more than any other book was responsible for the academic popularisation of Foucault's ideas of bio-power and governmentality. In the very well attended lecture, Mitchell Dean presented his paper "Social Thought and the Art of Government" to a very receptive and enthusiastic audience of academics and students from across many disciplines.

5th SSRC International Conference Workshop 2009

The SSRC was also pleased to support and host the 5th SSRC International Conference Workshop 2009 'Bringing Nature Back In? Theories of Nature-Society Relations in Environmental Sociology & Sustainability Research' organised by Henrike Rau. This brought together academics such as Dr. Matthias Dr. Matthias Groß (from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany) and Dr. Peter Doran (from Queens University Belfast) together with academics from NUI, Galway and the proceedings of which will published in the coming year.

As a result of the 4th SSRC-sponsored international workshop 'Society, Culture and the Environment IV', which took place in spring 2008, the SSRC published a special symposium entitled "Contested Landscapes: Space, Place and Identity in Contemporary Ireland" in the internationally recognised Journal Nature and Culture, Vol. 4, Issue 1 (2009). This included articles from the workshop's proceedings from participants such as Henrike Rau, Mary P. Corcoran, Jane Gray, Michel Peillon, Marie Mahon, Frances Fahy, Micheál Ó Cinnéide, Brenda Gallagher and Eamonn Slater.

Visiting Speakers

The SSRC was also pleased to support lectures from invited speakers such as the postmodern political geographer and urban planner, Edward Soja, (the Distinguished Professor of Urban Planning, University of California, Los Angeles) and the prominent bioethicist and philosopher of medicine, Professor Søren Holm (of the Cardiff Law School and permanent visiting Chair at the Section for Medical Ethics, University of Oslo). The Centre was also extremely proud to support the lecture by Nuala O'Loan, (Irish Government Roving Ambassador and Special Envoy for Conflict Resolution to Timor-Leste) who played a prominent role in the Northern peace process as Northern Ireland's first police ombudsman.

SSRC Critical Theory Seminar Series

This year, the SSRC also launched the first seminar of the newly formed SSRC Critical Theory Seminar Series with the ethos of exploring ways of thinking which genuinely contribute to the critical role of universities in contemporary societies. These seminars are intended to facilitate the discussion of, amongst other things, participants' work in progress. Professor Maeve Cooke, Professor of Philosophy at University College Dublin, member of the Royal Irish Academy and internationally celebrated author of Language and Reason: A Study of Habermas's Pragmatics, and Re-Presenting the Good Society, gave the talk and led discussion in the seminar entitled 'A conversation with Maeve Cooke: Questions and Preoccupations'. This seminar was well attended by academics and postgraduate students from many departments and disciplines and gave a rare chance to delve into her current research on re-conceptualising domination and violence, on re-articulating autonomy and on issues in current debates on religion and politics. 

Fechner Day 2009

In addition to this, the SSRC is pleased to support Fechner Day 2009 (the 25 ^th Annual or Centenary Meeting of the International Society for Psychophysics) which is bringing to Galway internationally famous theorists in psychology. These include Professor David Robinson, the leading personality theorist, Professor Steven Link, who is responsible for Wave Theory in psychology, and Professor Eugene Galanter, author of Plans and the Structure of Behavior, a book considered to have superseded behaviorism with modern cognitive science. This is the first meeting to be held in Ireland and the first meeting of its type to be associated with NUI, Galway.

SSRC Visiting Scholar

This year's SSRC Visiting Scholar was Professor Eileen Fairhurst who is Professor of Health and Ageing Policy Studies at the Research Institute for Health and Social Change in the Manchester Metropolitan University. Professor Fairhurst, who has recently been awarded the MBE for services to the NHS, was able to significantly advance her work with the close collaboration with the SSRC Chair, Dr. Ricca Edmondson.

SSRC Journal of Power

The SSRC Journal of Power, published by Routledge and edited by Mark Haugaard, is quickly consolidating its position as leader in its field and continues to unite interdisciplinary theoretical and empirical contributions. Over the last year, it has published articles from such important scholars such as Stewart Clegg, Steven Lukes, Keith Dowding, Philip Pettit, John A. Hall, Norbert Elias, and Zygmunt Bauman.

Also this year, SSRC Members Mark Haugaard and Kevin Ryan organised the Research Group on Political Power of the International Political Science Association at the Santiago 2009 World Congress of Political Science. As well as promoting both the SSRC and NUI Galway to a world audience, Mark Haugaard also organised a 'Meet the Editor' of the Journal of Power session further promoting the NUI Galway-based journal. For further details see ://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/17540291.asp  

New Publications

Also published with SSRC support was Ricca Edmondson & Hans-Joachim von Kondratowitz's Valuing older people: A humanist approach to ageing (2009) published by The Policy Press. This work brings together leading scholars such as Peter G. Coleman, Kalyani K. Mehta, Monika Wohlrab-Sahr, Haim Hazan, Peter Derkx, Eileen Fairhurst, Sue Baines, Ron Manheimer and many others. The book, aimed at students, researchers, practitioners and policy-makers interested in ageing, offers an important and engaging response to contemporary understandings and challenges of ageing.

George Taylor and Martin Power (2009) The Politics of the Irish Blood Crisis. e book. Centre for Public Policy, SSRC

George Taylor (2009) The Reconfiguration of Risk in the British State. Public Policy and Administration.

George Taylor (2009). The Politics of Little Red Sweets: Risk Science and Food Regulation.  Administration

Henrike Rau, Unsustainable Times? Time, Culture, and Social Change in Ireland and Germany (forthcoming)  

Graduate support

The SSRC also continues its support of postgraduate students, including three Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences scholars, and NUI Galway colleagues in small-grant research and offers valuable office facilities for SSRC postgraduates and university colleagues alike.

SSRC Programme Funds: Applications due by 5th December 

We are now inviting applications for SSRC funding. Programmes include conferences, visiting lecturers and scholars, and funding for small projects. Details are at the Programmes link. Applications should be sent to Dr Ricca Edmondson at the Department of Political Science and Sociology, by Friday 5th December 2010. SSRC Programmes

We are currently inviting applications to our special Programme Fund, details may be found here: http://www.nuigalway.ie/ssrc/programmes/index.html  Applications will be considered throughout the year.

Masters Degree in Public Advocacy and Activism

The first students on the new Masters Degree in Public Advocacy and Activism began their studies in September 2006. It is a multi-disciplinary higher degree, with three major components: globalisation, media, and management. This new Masters has been developed by the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy, the Huston School of Film & Digital Media and the Social Sciences Research Centre, in association with the Irish Centre for Human Rights.

It is an advanced programme for those working in advocacy, internationally and locally, in areas including community organisation, development, labour, rights, health and environment. There are many Management, Communications and Public Relations courses yet none offer a comparative multidisciplinary content or the same level of engagement with issues of social justice as the Masters Degree in Advocacy and Activism. This new initiative offers a Masters level course with a specific focus on the issues central to organisations which seek to shift attitudes and understandings in order to initiate change. With the globalisation of society, contemporary human concerns, advocacy and proposed solutions increasingly transcend national boundaries. In this new transnational world, traditional state institutions have often become both less effective and more remote from popular control. As a consequence, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) play an ever more essential role in bringing the influence of 'the second superpower' (international public opinion) to bear on many areas of politics and policy. To be effective, organisations which mobilise and represent public opinion face many challenges.

- They must have access to the highest levels of analysis of the world economy and new and developing political structures.

- They must be able to organise and communicate in a cross-cultural context.

- They have to be effectively administered employing modernmanagement techniques and appropriate accounting standards in a manner which reflects their core values and respects the rights of their employees and associates.

- They must understand the media economies and technologies (television, film, radio, photography, the press and digital media) and the role they play in the formation of public outlook and attitude.

This new programme aims to be at the forefront of all these areas, providing a qualification which addresses both practical and theoretical issues relating to campaigning and advocacy in today's world. Students will come from a range of backgrounds and experience; the course may offer a mid-career break for practitioners in the area, or may provide a specialist qualification for recent graduates interested in working in advocacy. In order to ensure a constructive and stimulating group dynamic, candidates will be recruited widely with the intention of building an international student profile. It is proposed to establish a number of scholarships for candidates from developing countries.

Course Description

It offers a Masters degree organised through the Graduate School of Business and Public Policy and the Huston School of Film & Digital Media, in association with the Irish Centre for Human Rights and the Social Sciences Research Centre. The duration of the degree is 12 months, primarily involving six months of course work (two 12 week semesters starting in September and January) and a two-month placement. The minor dissertation may be based on the placement experience. Students seconded from organisations will normally be placed in their own organisations. Teaching staff are drawn from a broad range of University departments and Research Centres. An important component will be a symposium held in Galway each June. This gathering of interested groups and individuals will enable advocates and activists to share their experiences at a forum where the current issues affecting their work may be identified and debated, and provide an opportunity to develop new strategies and methods for future campaigns and initiatives.

MA in Advocacy Contacts

Dr Fiona Bateman (Co-ordinator)

fiona.batemannuigalway.ie

Further details at http://www.filmschool.ie/

Publication: Environmental Argument and Cultural Difference

Congratulations to Ricca Edmondson and Henrike Rau, whose new book, Environmental Argument and Cultural Difference: Locations, Fractures and Deliberations, has just been published by Peter Lang, Oxford. 

Environmental argument is 'about' far more than meets the eye. How people (mis)understand each other during environmentaldebates is affected by conflicts between values and ways of life which may not be directly connected with the environment at all. This book offers sociological evidence from three contrasting societies - Ireland, Germany and China - to explore how diversity of cultural context affects deliberation about the physical world. What can we discover by examining environmental debates through the lens of interculturality? When people disagree about flood management, building motorways or extracting gas, what difference does it make if they have diverse experiences of neighbourly relations, how to use time or how to imagine a good life? What is going on at intersections between cultures to influence the trajectories of environmental debates? The book disinters taken-for-granted practices, feelings and social relationships which affect environmental arguments, in scientific and artistic debate as well as in politics and policy-making. Importantly, the book makes visible the effects of cultural difference on people's approaches to arguing itself. If public arguing is shaped by specific habits of feeling or imagination, how does that impact on theories of democracy? Do we need new kinds of arguing to cope with environmental crises? What elements of arguing are decisive in the ways people come to see environmental decisions as wise choices?

Ricca Edmondson and Henrike Rau (eds) would like to thank the Social Science Research Centre (SSRC) at NUI, Galway for financial assistance and administrative support for the book and the international workshops that initiated this publication. The book may be ordered online at http://www.peterlang.com/  For further details about the volume, including contents, please click here.

MA in Public Advocacy and Activism

The SSRC is pleased to be associated with the MA in Public Advocacy and Activism, which had its first intake of students in September 2006. Applications are made online and a prospectus for the course is available here. For further details about this programme or for answers to any queries regarding applications, contact course coordinator, Andrea Breslin at andrea.breslinnuigalway.ie .

SSRC Annual Lecture by Professor John Urry

Professor John Urry of Lancaster University recently gave the SSRC Annual Lecture on the topic 'The New Mobilities Paradigm', in Aras Moyola. The well-attended lecture was jointly sponsored by the SSRC and the Dept of Geography. For details of Professor Urry's research interests and publications, click here.

4th SSRC International Conference Workshop 2008

Another international workshop in the very successful SSRC-sponsored series on the theme of society, culture and the environment, was held in NUI Galway from 28th-29th March. The 2008 workshop was titled 'Contested Landscapes: Sustainable Living and the Reclamation of Public Space in (Sub-)Urban and Rural Environments'. A programme maybe downloaded here, and a poster is available here. 

On Friday 28th, Dr John Barry of Queens University Belfast launched Dr Liam Leonard's latest book, The Environmental Movement in Ireland (Springer 2008).

'Wisdom and Art: The Case of Jackson Pollock'

Dr Elizabeth Langhorne, a distinguished scholar and speaker on nineteenth and twentieth-century art history, especially the art of Jackson Pollock, gave a lecture on Friday 14th March in the Moore Institute Seminar Room. The well-attended lecture was on the subject 'Wisdom and Art: The Case of Jackson Pollock'.

Political and Philosophical Debates in Welfare

Dr Allyn Fives, who lectures in political theory at NUI Galway and is based in the SSRC, has just published his book,  Political and Philosophical Debates in Welfare, with Palgrave Macmillan. It is a critical overview of philosophical debates concerning the justification of welfare, and poses a number of questions: What is welfare? What counts as a good reason to justify welfare entitlements? And, can any moral justification be given for the state's provision of welfare?  

New Book: The Environmental Movement in Ireland

The Environmental Movement in Ireland by Liam Leonard of the SSRC, NUI Galway is now available. It deals with collective responses to Ireland's dramatic transformation from a primarily agrarian and rural society to an industrialised economy obsessed by rapid growth and development which occurred in two phases: Phase One took place between the "No Nukes" protests of the late 1970's when campaigns targeted multinational plants or infrastructural projects perceived as a pollution threat during years of economic stagnation. Phase Two occurred after economic buoyancy was achieved, as the demands of rapid growth threatened communities, the environment and Irish heritage in the face of major infrastructural projects such as roads, incinerators and gas pipelines.

Starting with the Woodquay protests in Dublin, the "No Nukes" protests at Carnsore Point, the "Shell to Sea" campaign in Mayo and the campaign to save Tara from destruction, these significant ecological campaigns, based on the community's localised sense of place or rural sentiment, have formed the response to these challenges which are analysed here using social movement theories such as resource mobilisation, political opportunity, framing and event analysis.

Ecopolitics Online Journal Call for Papers

Call for papers : Ecopolitics Online Journal will accept abstracts (150 words) and completed articles (8,000 words) on themes relevant to our core areas of interest, including green politics, parties, lifestyles and movements. For details see here.

The Irish Ecopolitics Online webpage is now available to view at http://www.irishecopoliticsonline.com/ The webpage will host the peer reviewed Irish Ecopolitics Online Journal (view call for current edition under Journals hyperlink on the site's front page) a bi-annual academic journal which explores themes of environmentalism, sustainability, social movements and environmental politics and policy. The site will also host books from the Ecopolitics Series from Greenhouse Press and other like-minded publications on environmentalism and social movements. Irish Ecopolitics Online provides an outlet for academics and researchers through its online environmental publishing website. In addition, Irish Ecopolitics Online publishes e-books with environmental themes. Books included here include Green Nation and Politics Inflamed by Dr Liam Leonard of the National University of Ireland, Galway. The webpage is a new and innovative development in environmental publishing in Ireland.

For further information contact Dr Liam Leonard, SSRC, NUI Galway at Liam_leonardyahoo.com.

Introduction to systematic reviewing

A one day workshop on systematic reviewing will be held on Wednesday, 12th March 2008 at the ESRC Regional Training Centre at Queen's University Belfast. Details are available at http://eppi.ioe.ac.uk/cms/Default.aspx?tabid=830, including booking forms, or email P.Roseioc.ac.uk to have a booking form sent out to you, or for any further details.

Sex Trafficking in Ireland

A report on the nature and extent of trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation into Ireland was launched in the Moore Institute, NUI Galway, on October 18th. This is the first independent piece of research to establish a baseline for and analysis of sex-trafficking into Ireland and has been carried out by Dr. Eilís Ward, Department of Political Science and Sociology, NUI Galway and Dr. Gillian Wylie, Irish School of Ecumenics, Trinity College Dublin. The report was launched by former TCD Senator, Mary Henry,  followed by a short seminar with a presentation from the findings, which included guest speaker, legal expert Penny Redmond, who specifically addressed legal dimensions of the issue for Ireland. 
The research covers the period from 2000 - 2006 and is based on a survey with a number of Irish experts in related areas of prostitution and the sex trade in Ireland, migration, and violence against women and media research. State, statutory and non-governmental organisations are included in the survey. The survey has a nation-wide scope and sets out to establish baseline figures for the number of women being sex-trafficked into and around Ireland and trends and patterns in relation to the nature of the trafficking act, forms of coercion and violence used, location in the sex industry and the status of the women involved. The findings are located in a discussion and analysis of the domestic and legal framework, Ireland's responsibilities therein and in the context of the sex trade in Ireland today. The report concludes with a number of recommendations for both the law and for policy and supports to be built around appropriate responses to the needs to women who have been trafficked for the purposes of sexual exploitation. 

A pdf version of the report may be downloaded here:

The Nature and Extent of Trafficking of Women into Ireland for the Purposes of Sexual Exploitation, 2000-2006 : A Report from Findings (2007), Eilís Ward and Gillian Wylie (PDF - 400KB)

Ecology and Utopia

The 4th Ralahine Utopian Studies Workshop and the launch of the Ecopolitics Online Journal took place on Friday 2nd November at the University of Limerick. Speakers included Professor Tom Moylan (University of Limerick), Dr Liam Leonard and Dr Henrike Rau (NUI Galway), Dr Marius de Geus (Leiden University), and Dr Mark Garavan (GMIT, Castlebar). Topics include 'Ecologial Utopias', 'Concrete Utopias, Sustainable Living, and Green Politics', and 'Sustaining Ecotopias'. There was also a presentation on the Cloughjordan Ecovillage by  Mr. Davie Phillip.

 The first edition of Ecopolitics Online Journal on Ecotopias, Journal Vol. 1 No.1, is now available:

http://www.ecopoliticsonline.com/index.cfm?action="journals&articlesID="138E1FC5-8024-BD42-4068149106DCF4AD"

Social Structures of Accumulation: Conference publication available online

For a copy of the "Growth and Crises, Social Structures of Accumulation: Theory and Analysis" international conference's e-book, click here.  

The SSRC was pleased to support the conference on 'Social Structures of Accumulation', which was held at NUI Galway, on 2nd-4th November 2006 (click here for details).

Saree Makdisi at the Fifth Galway Colonialism Conference

A multidisciplinary conference on the subject of Settler Colonialism was held in NUI, Galway at the end of June 2007. It was attended by delegates from Canada, the USA, Australia, Hawai'i and various European countries, and was a lively and thought provoking four days. The organising committee wish at acknowledge the SSRC's support of Professor Saree Makdisi's attendance at the conference; his lecture on the topic, 'Zionism, Then and Now' reflected his ongoing engagement with the Palestinian situation. His various interventions are available on his blogspot at http://sareemakdisi.blogspot.com/

Re-Thinking Irish Democracy

The long awaited volume, Uninhabited Ireland: Tara, the M3 and Public Spaces in Ireland, was launched by Michael D. Higgins, T.D., on May 21st, in the Moore Institute Seminar room.

The two essays in this volume are contributions from Professor Ulf Strohmayer: "Ireland as a Civil society: Public Space, the common good and private desires in Galway", and Dr Conor Newman: "Misinformation, disinformation and downright distortion: the Battle to Save Tara 1999-2005". The Re-Thinking Irish Democracy Series editors are Áine Ní Léime, Dr Terry McDonough and Dr Lionel Pilkington. The volume is published by Arlen House. The book is available in Galway in the following outlets: the University Bookshop, Easons and Dubray Books; and in Books Upstairs, College Green, Dublin.

Dr William Hartnett New Publication: A Collaborative Development Zone for Israelis and Palestinians

Dr William Hartnett recently presented the research findings from his project, 'A Collaborative Development Zone for Israelis and Palestinians', at NUI Galway.

The book has now been launched by MIT, and it can be obtained by clicking here. William is grateful to the SSRC for its supportiveness while it hosted him as a Visiting Scholar completing this volume, and appreciates his recent opportunity to present this research and policy proposal at NUIG.

This book proposes that the Israeli and Palestinian peoples choose to develop, along the old and divisive Green Line, a new "Green Belt" of ethnic and economic collaboration joining their two communities. For a brief overview of this proposal, please click here.

The book first discusses the underlying situation. It then sets forth the Green Belt policy proposal and demonstrates how this policy proposal will promote successful statehood for both communities. The book goes on to 1) characterize the losses inflicted by the historic stalemate and 2) develop an innovative model of that confrontation to gain some relevant insights. Finally, a summary is presented. For an excerpt from the book, please click here.

Irish Feminist Thought Conference

The SSRC was pleased to support a conference on 'Irish Feminist Thought'  held at NUI Galway, on 13th and 14th April. Guest speakers were Patricia Coughlan, University College Cork and Myrtle Hill, Queen's University Belfast.

Architect Ruairi O'Brien gives Annual Lecture

The SSRC Annual Lecture was held on Friday 23rd March in the Moore Institute's Seminar room, and we were pleased to welcome architect Ruairí O'Brien to speak on "Microglobal Times": The Art of not Wasting Wasteland.

The very interesting talk addressed (GDR) architecture and the 'recycling of history' through novel forms of display and commemoration and the in situ preservation of local knowledge. Ruairí O'Brien moved to Dresden in 1991 and his open air 'Plattenbaumuseum' in Dresden-Johannstadt has attracted attention both nationally and internationally. Similarly, Ruairi O'Brien's conceptual plan for the prominent Erich-Kaestner-Museum in Dresden-Neustadt has been hailed as an innovative approach to the presentation of information which allows visitors to explore and actively create displays and which combines experiences of mobility with memories of place ( http://www.erich-kaestner-museum.de/index_a.html ).

Ruairí O'Brien's connections with Ireland and East Germany also allow him to compare and contrast cultural specificities of place and belonging and their expression through architecture. His interest in sustainable building/living is reflected in his work on micro-architecture. Micro-architecture represents an innovative, non-invasive way of conceptually and materially connecting old building substance and new features and uses. Traditional and modern elements are fused to create a new identity for urban spaces and buildings while also retaining aspects of their existing meanings and identities ( http://www.microarchitecture.net/Texte/english/microarch-english.html).

Click here for more information about robarchitects.

Society, Culture and the Environment:  30th-31st March

The third SSRC International Conference Workshop was held at NUI Galway on 30th and 31st March.

Recent reports on the state of the environment alert us to hitherto unseen levels of environmental destruction and their potentially catastrophic social and economic consequences. The Stern review on the economics of climate change published in 2006 represented one such 'wake-up call' which was followed by numerous calls by politicians and environmentalists for more sustainable development. However, the sense of urgency emanating from these reports often contrasts with slow-paced policy responses both at national and supranational level. The sense of frustration about the lack of progress which was palpable during the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change 2006 in Nairobi exemplifies the discrepancy between the need for wide-ranging social-environmental reform and the actual pace of change.

Environmental NGOs and activists have successfully kept environmental problems on the agenda but have frequently failed to bring about lasting changes in the political and economic sphere. This is attributable to a range of external and internal factors including negative state intervention, corporate pressure as well as lack of resources and expertise. Powerful structural and socio-cultural barriers also prevent necessary global changes in environmental policy making and implementation, including the hegemony of discourses of economic progress and persistent North-South inequalities that undermine attempts at bringing about distributive justice worldwide. The mismatch between people's environmental attitudes and their actual behaviour ('value-action-gap') and the persistence of short-term political timeframes such as election terms have also been identified as significant barriers to long-term strategies aimed at sustainable development and intergenerational justice.

One of the proposed solutions to this ineffectiveness has been to professionalise environmentalist organisations, thereby increasing their lobbying power. However, experiences of the professionalisation of environmentalist groups have been a mixed blessing attracting both positive comments and criticism. Some proponents of ecological modernisation consider professionalisation a necessary prerequisite to successful partnership negotiations to overcome hitherto adversarial relationships between the State, business interests and environmentalists (cf. Flynn, 2006). Yet others have highlighted as problematic the potential co-option of environmentalist groups by the State and corporate powers through the formers' departure from grassroots democracy, a concern shared by many activists (Dryzek et al., 2004). Overall, it appears that the success or failure of environmentalist movements depends on a variety of factors, including the role of the State in encouraging or suppressing environmentalist voices.

In-depth knowledge of the opportunities for and barriers to inclusion, such as a better understanding of democratic systems, forms of deliberative public participation and intercultural arguing thus provide powerful tools for activists and other stakeholders to assess their options, identify strategies and explore (un-)successful cases from other countries. Social scientists' contributions to the environmental debate can aid this process by making accessible information on organisational structures and lifecycles, decision-making processes and conflict resolution. The popularity of collaborative and action research projects involving academics, activists and lay experts is noticeable, albeit with varying results regarding the quality of the work (Gilbert, 1997). Nevertheless, the intersection between academic work and activism remains subject to considerable debate that goes well beyond methodological considerations by social scientists reflecting on their level of involvement and its research implications.

This is the third workshop in the SSRC-sponsored series on society, culture and the environment. The initial two SSRC workshops have yielded an edited volume to be published by Peter Lang Publishers (Oxford) in April 2007.

For further information, please contact the workshop convenors: Dr Henrike Rau (henrike.raunuigalway.ie) and Dr Su-Ming Khoo (suming.khoonuigalway.ie) of the Department of Political Science and Sociology, NUI Galway.

Recent Publication

Green Nation: The Irish Environmental Movement from Carnsore Point to the Rossport Five.

Dr Liam Leonard's book, the second volume in the Ecopolitics Series, supported by the ECI, was launched recently. Liam is grateful to the SSRC for support offered while he was engaged in researching and writing this volume.

The book examines a number of the community-based campaigns that have come to make up a grassroots environmental movement in a changing Ireland. Starting with the "No Nukes" protests at Carnsore in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Green Nation traces the emergence of a nascent ecopopulist movement that has witnessed a number of campaigns including anti-mining protests at Tynagh, Donegal and Croagh Patrick, anti-toxics activism in Cork, the heritage dispute at Mullaghmore, the campaigns against incineration in Galway, Meath and Cork, the anti-roads protests at the Glen of the Downs, Carrickmines and Tara/Skryne and the ongoing campaign of "Shell to Sea'"in Mayo which gave rise to the incredible story of the "Rossport 5", who were imprisoned for seeking justice for their community in North Mayo. Green Nation examines the mobilisation and framing processes undertaken in these disputes, locating them in the context of a wider rural identity that has shaped grassroots environmentalism in the Irish case

Professor Jacob Torfing Working Paper

Professor Jacob Torfing of Roskilde University, Denmark was invited to give the SSRC Annual Lecture in April 2006. We are pleased to announce that a copy of the the paper delivered on that occasion, on the subject of the 'Democratic anchorage of  governance networks', the full text of which may be consulted by clicking here.

Towards a Sustainable Economy

John Barry and Peter Doran of Queens University, Belfast gave a talk, 'Towards a Sustainable Economy - Theory, Policy and Practice', on Friday 8th December, in the ECI Seminar Room, Orbsen Building. The event was supported jointly by the SSRC and the ECI.

Visiting Lecturer - Friday, 10th November

Professor Amy Allen, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Women's and Gender Studies at Dartmouth College, USA, gave a paper, 'The Politics of Our Selves: Power, Autonomy and Gender in Contemporary Critical Theory', on Friday 10th November.

For details of Professor Allen's publications and research interests, click here.

Conference

The SSRC supported a conference at NUI Galway: Values and Norms in Ageing, which was held on 20-22 October 2006, and was a great success  (click here for details).

SSRC International Environmental Workshop, March 31st  April 1st 2006

Participation and Communication in Environmental Decision-Making: Conveying and Contesting Unfamiliar Ideas in Socio-Environmental Theory and Research.

This year's SSRC International Environmental Workshop focused on public participation and communication in environmental decision-making in Ireland and Germany and provided a forum for debate on how to communicate environmental ideas more effectively. It brought together sociologists, geographers and political and environmental scientists from Germany and Ireland. The list of speakers included Dr. Mark Garavan (GMIT, Castlebar), Dr. Perry Share and Mr. Oliver Moore (IT Sligo), Ms Sylvia Kruse (inter3 Institute, Berlin, Germany), Dr. Frances Fahy and Ms Lisa Moran (NUIG).

Workshop presentations explored local environmental concerns and their expression through popular campaigns such as the Corrib Gas conflict in North Mayo, public consultation initiatives to develop flood protection measures in Eastern Germany and community initiatives and outreach projects such as the community garden project in Sligo and the EPA waste management pilot scheme in Galway. Participants also discussed alternatives to individualised car-based mobility, environmental expertise in local communities in Connemara and forms of reasoning and argumentation used in academic and everyday environmental debates. Greater inclusiveness and opportunities for participation, the identification and visualisation of conceptual and linguistic barriers through innovative methodologies such as constellation analysis and the use of positive argumentation and rhetoric were identified as strategies for encouraging people to consider ecological arguments and incorporate them into everyday practices.

 

Dr Ricca Edmondson and Dr Henrike Rau, organisers of the Workshop

The event was organised and chaired by Dr. Henrike Rau and Dr. Ricca Edmondson from the Department of Political Science and Sociology (NUIG) with support from the SSRC at NUI, Galway.

(Details of last year's workshop may be found by following the 'Programmes' link and then 'Conferences').

Symposium on Moral Theory and Health Care Practice

The department of philosophy and COBRA, the local ethics centre, held an interdisciplinary Symposium on Moral Theory and Health Care Practice at NUIG, March 8-10, 2006. The symposium explored problems and issues that are encountered in the context of realising ethical reflection in health care. It brought together prominent international and Irish philosophers, practitioners and empirical researchers with an interest in the implementation of ethical practice in the health care system.

If you wish to obtain further information on the programme, please contact Heike Schmidt-Felzmann, heike.felzmannnuigalway.ie

 

BOOK LAUNCH: Was Ireland A Colony?

We are pleased to announce the publication of Was Ireland A Colony?: Economics, Politics, Ideology and Culture in Nineteenth Century Ireland, edited by Dr Terrence McDonough and published by Irish Academic Press. This volume was launched by Dr Joe Cleary of NUI Maynooth on 30th September 2006 in the Aula Maxima, NUI Galway, at a well-attended and enjoyable event. The book is available at all the usual outlets.

About the book

The nineteenth-century history of Irish economics, politics and culture cannot be properly understood without examining Ireland's colonial condition. Recent political developments and economic success have revived interest in the study of the colonial relationship between Britain and Ireland that is more nuanced than the traditional nationalist or academic revisionist view of Irish history. This new approach has arisen in several fields of historical investigation, notably culture, economics and political history.

This collection of essays draws on a range of disciplines and raises many interesting debates regarding Ireland's past and present. The book is available at all the usual outlets.

 

Dr Terrence McDonough and Dr Joe Cleary, pictured at the book launch.

Gellner Conference

A conference, 'The Social and Political Relevance of Ernest Gellner's Thought Today', was held on 21-22 May 2005. Opened by the Czech Ambassador to Ireland, Mr Josef Havlas, the conference was well-attended, and as well as the many interesting papers which were presented, there was lively discussion and debate. Further details and conference videos may be found on this website by following the link to 'Programmes', then 'Conferences'.

 

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