The Politics of the Irish Constitution 1937-2019

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course will explore the politics of constitutional change in Ireland over the period from the enactment of the Irish Constitution (Bunreacht na Eireann) in 1937 to the present day, encompassing issues such as the place of Northern Ireland, the place of Europe, electoral reform, the presidency, democratic accountability, institutional reform, the role of women and children, the relationship between church and state, divorce, abortion and same-sex marriage. These issues raise increasingly important theoretical and political questions about the relationship, and the tensions, between the institutions of representative democracy - especially the Constitution - and participatory democratic politics in a modern state. Case histories will be used to illustrate the theoretical issues involved.