Search results

‘We think it will be a long time’, wrote the editor of the Irish Jesuit review Studies in the autumn of 1968, ‘before the teaching Orders and Congregations in Ireland withdraw from their historic teaching function here; we do not share the fear of one of our commentators that they will some day be required to do so.’

The paper aims to analyse the published work of Ireland's pre-eminent public relations (PR) educator, across a number of literary genres in which he has written. More broadly, it considers the writing life of academics.

This paper examines Carty's writings about his own history, Irish history, the development of church-state relations in Ireland and PR. It seeks to make connections between Carty's subjects and his writing styles.

Through detailed analysis of a number of key texts, the paper explores the writing styles used by Carty to discern the nature of his distinctive “voice(s)”.

There is considerable research into a handful of (mostly American) “great men” in PR' history and development. But every nation has its own PR pioneers about whom little is known outside that country and who deserve to be more widely recognised.

This paper hopes to stimulate future work by other colleagues in other nations, reflecting on the contribution of their own PR educators and practitioners.

Western liberal states are considered to be secular in nature, with a presumed neutrality of state laws from religious values and norms. However, this claim overlooks the inherent influence that religious groups (namely, dominant Christian churches and groups) have as informal institutions. According to neo-institutionalists, informal institutions, like these religious norms and values, interact with and influence formal state institutions. As such, it could be argued that the norms and values of dominant religious groups within the state have a role in shaping governmental policies and the law. This is evident when examining the debates around multiculturalism and religious freedom that arise in liberal democratic states such as Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom (UK). In particular, the recent Sharia debates that have arisen in each of these jurisdictions illustrate that the secular state legal system is often positioned as “neutral” and free from religious influence – and thus incompatible with, and unable to, accommodate the religious orders of minority groups. However, this idea that the state is entirely free from religious values is a fallacy that ignores the historical role and influence of Christian churches in each state. In opposing the accommodation of Sharia in private dispute resolution, common arguments include the inherent patriarchal nature of the religion leading to further oppression and disadvantage of Muslim women when seeking resolution of personal law matters (i.e. divorce and property settlements). The secular state law is positioned against this (and religion more broadly) as the “fair” and “just” alternative for minority women – protector of individual rights. Though this ignores the inherent gender hierarchies embedded within formal state institutions, including the legal system that has been implicitly shaped by religious moral values to varying degrees – where minority women are also faced with a set of gender biases. When combined with the internal pressures from their communities and families this can often place them in a double-bind of disadvantage. In this paper, I draw on feminist institutionalism to examine the informal institutional norms that arise from dominant Christian churches in Australia, Canada, and the UK. In particular, the ways in which these informal norms have influenced the development of state laws, and continue to operate alongside the legal system to shape and influence governmental policies, laws, and ultimately the outcomes for Muslim women.

The quote above was taken from the actor Brendan Gleeson, who struck a chord with Irish people in his outburst about the lack of care shown to the old and vulnerable during the years preceding the economic downturn in 2008. In the Irish case, it has always been the marginalised and poorest who have suffered at the hands of the pride and greed of the ruling elite. This chapter will establish an understanding of the ideologically driven and often tragic economic planning undertaken in the Irish state since Independence in 1922. The chapter will outline the problems associated with political elites which then became manifest in the socio-economic life of the country. These problems were political, but also cultural, and shaped the difficulties that have befallen the Irish state in almost every decade of its history.

This chapter examines symphysiotomy in twentieth-century Ireland as one example of a systematized obstetric violence that has characterized Ireland’s modern history. Expanding scholarly interpretations of state- and Church-inflicted abuse of women in the twentieth century, this analysis establishes the medical profession as a central actor alongside the twentieth-century state-Church coalition that regulated women’s reproductive lives and engaged in systematic repression. This chapter recognizes that Ireland’s history of reproductive abuse and coercion did not just involve contraception or abortion but also labor and birth experiences. In addition, it offers a more complete and complex interpretation of obstetric violence by highlighting the experiences of married women with wanted pregnancies; almost all research to date focuses on the experiences of unmarried pregnant women or unwanted pregnancies. This examination of symphysiotomy and obstetric violence in Ireland illuminates the ways in which religious, national, and medical power has been mapped on women’s reproductive bodies, particularly in the decades after independence in 1922. It also makes essential links between Ireland’s past and present, demonstrating that a careful analysis of the history of obstetric violence and the religious underpinnings of it are essential in understanding Ireland today. With this research, we also place symphysiotomy within the context of the global reproductive justice movement, asking how a reproductive justice framework – one that links reproductive rights with social justice – can help us interpret obstetric violence and address the wounds of Ireland’s past.