Celtic Revival?: The Rise, Fall, and Renewal of Global Ireland

Sean Kay

ago 2011 · Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

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Celtic Revival? explores what happens when a society loses its wealth, its faith in government, and its trust in its Church. The glorious rise of the Celtic Tiger in Ireland was thought by many to be a model for future economic growth for countries around the world; its dramatic crash in 2008 resonated equally widely. Yet despite the magnitude of the ongoing collapse, Sean Kay shows that seen in historical perspective, the crisis is part of a much larger pattern of generations of progress and change.

Kay draws on a rich blend of research, interviews with a broad spectrum of Irish society, and his own decades of personal experience to tell the story of Ireland today. He guides the reader through the country's major economic challenges, political transformation, social change, the crisis in the Irish Catholic Church, and the rise of gay rights and multiculturalism. He takes us through the streets of Derry and Belfast to understand the Northern Ireland peace process and the daunting task of peace building that has only just begun. Finally, we see how Irish foreign policy has long been a model for balancing competing interests and values. Kay concludes by highlighting Ireland's lessons for the world and mapping a vital path for twenty-first-century challenges and opportunities for the coming generations in Ireland and beyond.

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Sean Kay has been a frequent visitor to Ireland for the past three decades. A professor of politics and government at Ohio Wesleyan University, he is also a Mershon Associate at the Mershon Center for International Security Studies at the Ohio State University. He is a fellow in foreign policy at the Eisenhower Institute in Washington, D.C., and a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. His previous books include NATO and the Future of European Security (R&L) and Global Security in the Twenty-first Century: The Quest for Power and the Search for Peace (R&L). He is a frequent public commentator on Irish and European issues for major news organizations. Kay and his family live in Delaware, Ohio, and when in Ireland, reside in Howth, near Dublin.