"Containing the public messages, speeches, and statements of the President", 1956-1992.

Democratization since the implosion of the communist bloc displays a mixed balance. While the neo-democracies in Central Eastern European Countries can be seen as largely consolidated, many other processes of democratization in other parts of the world such as Africa, Asia and Latin America got stuck as unconsolidated or became defective democracies, some ‘regressed’ into hybrid regimes or were even turned into autocracies. While transitology dealt with the transition from authoritarian rule, the reverse process, the transition from democratic rule, remained almost completely outside the scholarly attention. This special issue will address the problems of the regression of democracy and aims at closing the gap between research on democracy and democratization on one side and the emergence of authoritarian regimes on the other. The contributions of this volume analyse the different phenomena in which decline of democracy fans out: the loss of quality, which means a silent regression; the backslide into hybrid regimes (hybridization); and the breakdown of democracy.

Inhaltsangabe: Inhaltsverzeichnis:Table of Contents: List of TablesII List of AbbreviationsIII Glossary of Irish TermsIV 1.Introduction1 1.1A brief history2 1.2Ireland: Basic facts5 1.2.1Political system6 1.2.2The peace process in Northern Ireland8 2.From European Community accession to the Maastricht Treaty9 2.1Ireland in the European Community10 2.1.1Ireland's economic performance in the EC11 2.1.2The Irish benefits from the EC12 2.2The Maastricht Treaty13 2.2.1From World War II to the Single European Act14 2.2.2The Single European Act15 2.2.3From the SEA to the Maastricht Treaty16 2.2.4The content of the Maastricht Treaty17 3.Ireland and the Maastricht Treaty19 3.1The Maastricht Treaty and Irish neutrality20 3.2Ireland and Structural Funds22 3.3Community Support Framework 1994-199923 3.3.1The four priorities of the 1994-1999 CSF26 3.3.2National Development Plan 1994-199929 3.4Ireland's attitude towards EMU30 3.5Irish fiscal policy 32 3.5.1The introduction of the single currency34 3.5.2Ireland and the single currency36 3.6The Irish economy37 3.6.1Economic performance in the mid-1990s37 3.6.2Challenges for the Irish economy 40 3.6.3Impacts of the single currency42 3.7EMU and public opinion 43 3.8Evaluation of the Maastricht Treaty47 4.Conclusion49 Bibliography53 Appendix57 For further information about the contents of this thesis we will be happy to send the abstract and a text sample to you free of charge and without obligation. Please send us an e-mail to [email protected] or a fax to ++49 (0)40 655 99 222 or call us at ++49 (0)40 655 99 20 and we will forward the requested documents to you as soon possible.

This book represents an attempt to tackle questions related to fragmented and often conflicting ideologies within Irish studies. Although a collective outcome, with contributions in English and Spanish, its unifying concern has been the appliance of postcolonial and gender perspectives to the analysis of Irish literature (prose, drama and verse) and cinema, as well as to the aesthetic production of both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Along the volume, while some authors have chosen to delve into the broad theoretical debate concerning the position of Irish studies within postcolonial and feminist theories, others offer detailed examinations of specific literary pieces and authors that fit in this panorama. All in all, the chapters are wide and diverse enough to trace a spatial and temporal map of the evolution of these paradigms within contemporary Irish studies, North and South of the border.

PART II: COUNTRY PROFILES