Eoin O''Malley
Biographic Data
| ID | 4075181 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Eoin O''Malley |
| GIVEN NAMES | Eoin |
| FAMILY NAME | O''Malley |
| SIGNATURE | MALLEY E O |
| AFFILIATIONS | Dublin City University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9548-5666 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 59 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 364 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 59 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Assessing the presidentialisation thesis: Prime ministerial authority in an era of rising centralisation and personalisation
The ‘presidentialisation’ of prime ministers has become a prominent theory in political science, particularly within the study of executive politics. The central claim that prime ministers and their agents exert increasing authority over government has sparked considerable definitional and theoretical debate. Empirical testing, however, has largely been limited to case studies of individual leaders and countries. Using a reliable metric for prime…
Campaigns, Mobilisation, and Composition Effects in the 2018 Irish Abortion Referendum
Referendums on issues usually thought to split along cleavage lines are least likely to see significant campaign effects because it is difficult to get voters to switch sides on such issues. We argue that even though campaigns might not be very effective at shifting people’s votes—persuasive effects—the campaign can influence the decision to vote or not—mobilising effects. Using the 2018 referendum to repeal the Irish ban on abortion, we test for…
The power of prime ministers: Evidence From 21 Parliamentary Democracies
The government and the Taoiseach
The cabinet and Taoiseach (prime minister) are the legal and political apex of public decision-making in Ireland. While in theory they might be expected simply to execute decisions made by the Houses of the Oireachtas (parliament), in reality the government is more powerful than that. This chapter explores how government in Ireland operates and considers a number of different models describing the distribution of power in the political executive …
Policy and administration
The cabinet and Taoiseach (prime minister) are the legal and political apex of public decision-making in Ireland. While in theory they might be expected simply to execute decisions made by the Houses of the Oireachtas (parliament), in reality the government is more powerful than that. This chapter explores how government in Ireland operates and considers a number of different models describing the distribution of power in the political executive …
The context of Irish politics
The chapter outlines the historical background to contemporary Irish politics. It focuses in particular on the emergence of the modern state, tracing the impact of British rule upon a mode of government many of whose features (including its administrative system and many of its political cultural values) were inherited or adopted by the newly independent Irish state after 1922. The pre-independence party system is analysed in depth, as is the per…
Politics in the Republic of Ireland
The leadership dilemma: Examining the impact of strong leaders on parties
Party leaders are often regarded as crucial to a party's success. Successful leaders tend to be big personalities who dominate their party's organisation, policy development and electoral campaigns. But does that control come with a price? We test to see if such leaders damage their parties in the medium term. This happens because strong leaders might be ceded too much control of the party organisation, policy and electoral strategy. We specifica…
Underrepresenting Reality? Media Coverage of Women in Politics and Sport
Objectives How do surges in female representation in public life affect media coverage? Can the media underrepresent the reality of women's progress? If so, is the source of underrepresentation the media itself or social elites that interact with the media? Methods Using automatic content analysis, we study two remarkable step changes in women's role in public life in Ireland: the 2016 elections and 2012 Olympics. Results The increase in female p…
Does talking matter? A quasi-experiment assessing the impact of deliberation and information on opinion change
Deliberative democracy is for many the most significant development in democratic theory in the last 50 years and it has been used in some places to solve real-world policy problems. However, measuring the impact of deliberative methods is not clearly achievable because several independent variables are manipulated simultaneously. One of the main goals of deliberation is opinion change and thus it is important to understand why opinions change. T…
Policy success/policy failure: A framework for understanding policy choices
Some policies fail to achieve their goals and some succeed. More often than not, it is unclear whether a policy has been a success or a failure, sometimes because the goal was not clear, or because there were a multitude of goals. In this introduction to this special issue we discuss what we mean by policy success and failure, and assume that policy success or failure is ultimately the result of the decision-making process: policy success results…
The (not-so-surprising) non-partisanship of the Irish Supreme Court
There is a growing literature which argues that courts are effectively legislators. As a result, political leaders have an incentive to control judicial decisions by appointing justices whose policy preferences are as close to their own as possible. For this reason, in many countries judicial appointments to the highest courts have become highly politicised. This can be for a number of reasons. One is the ideology of the Justices, the other is th…
Dáil reforms since 2011: Pathway to power for the ‘puny’ parliament
We know that the Dáil is dominated by the government. From 2010 to 2016 there was a clamour for change, which ultimately led to significant reforms of the Oireachtas, and specifically the Dáil. In this article we show that the basis for the weakness of the Dáil was the government’s control of the legislative agenda. This article tracks the changes that were made, and we make an early assessment of them. However, firm conclusions are difficult to …
Fianna Fáil: The Glue of Ambiguity
Remember also that it is nearly impossible to translate the words “Fianna Fail”,’ Mr De Valera said with a smile. ‘There is some advantage in that also.’ (McInerney, 1976)Fianna Fail, for many, is
Media and campaign effects on vote choice at national elections in Europe: A review of a multilingual research landscape Medien- und Kampagneneffekte auf Wahlentscheidungen bei nationalen Hauptwahlen …
This article reviews the empirical research literature on campaign and media effects on vote choice at national elections in European countries for the post-World War II period. Particular efforts are undertaken to obtain a comprehensive picture by including publications in many different languages. With regard to the amount of research, but also the topics addressed, the survey reveals considerable differences between countries. Studies of campa…
The leadership difference? Context and choice in Fianna Fáil’s party leadership
It is generally thought that leaders are important for the performance and activities of political parties. In Fianna Fáil those leaders usually hold the office of Taoiseach, allowing Fianna Fáil to set the agenda for, and react to, changes in Irish society. We investigate the extent to which the individual choice of leader might make a difference. We assess the political and policy management of Fianna Fáil’s leaders using a series of counterfac…
When do deliberative citizens change their opinions? Evidence from the Irish Citizens’ Assembly
Many claims have been made for the impact of deliberative democracy in generating change in people’s opinions, and often in predictable ways. It is claimed that people involved in deliberation change their minds on important issues. We also know that political participation and attitudes towards certain issues depend on political knowledge and civic education. To what extent are these linked? Do certain types of people react differently to their …
Does commercial orientation matter for policy-game framing? A content analysis of television and radio news programmes on public and private stations
This article examines the relationship between different ownership types in broadcast news to determine the portrayal of election coverage as a strategic game against a focus on policy issues. Using a content analysis of six television and radio programmes during the 2011 Irish general election, we test hypotheses about differences in coverage provided by public service programming with equivalent private sector coverage. Our findings improve upo…
Yes, Minister: The Impact of Decision-making Rules on Geographically Targeted Particularistic Spending
This article tests a theory to explain particularistic political spending not normally used on parliamentary systems. Using constituency-level data, we evaluate the merits of theories predicting whether parties reward their core voters or target floating or swing voters to maximise the party's electoral return. In order to bring new insights into the process of parliamentary pork in a system which incentivises garnering a personal vote, we introd…
The impact of the economic crisis on media framing: Evidence from three elections in Ireland
Media coverage of elections in Europe and North America has increasingly focused on the campaign as a game rather than a policy debate. This is often explained by the changes in media pressures. It may also reflect the narrowing of policy space between left and right and the comparative prosperity enjoyed in Europe and North America. But the relevance of policy varies. The global economic crisis might have led to an increased interest in policy a…
"Civil Compliance and "Political Luddism: Explaining Variance in Social Unrest During Crisis in Ireland and Greece
When badly hit by the same global financial and economic crisis in the early 2000s, the Irish and the Greek societies reacted in quite different ways. Whereas Ireland remained largely acquiescent and displayed a high degree of civil compliance, Greeks took massively to the streets using violence and attacking specifically the state and the state personnel, a phenomenon we refer to as "political Luddism." It is shown that the two countries are qui…
What’s in a name? Using surnames as data for party research
We present a novel method which can be used to show that contemporary party systems may originate much further back than is usually assumed or might be expected – in reality many centuries. Using data on Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, jurisdictions with party systems that differ significantly, one of which poses significant challenges to the universality of many political science theories, we show how using surnames as markers can conf…
Religion and democratization in Northern Ireland: Is Religion Actually Ethnicity in Disguise
Few parts of Europe see as much religious observance as Northern Ireland, and fewer places in Europe have religion as one of the major cleavages on which politics seems to rest. In this article we argue that although religion is an important identifier, it acts as a reinforcer of ethno-national differences rather than as an intrinsically important difference itself. Religious differences while often symbolically important rarely emerge as points …
The Two Types of Ulster Unionism: Testing an Ethnic Explanation for the Unionist/Loyalist Divide
Whereas there is an obvious ethnic explanation for the deep divisions between the nationalist and unionist communities in Northern Ireland, Ulster Protestants are often treated as a uniform group. It has been noted that there are more than two ethnic traditions in Northern Ireland; academics have distinguished between British Unionists and Ulster Loyalists. This is also linked to a divide in party support within the Protestant community. These tw…
Deliberative Democracy in Action Irish-style: The 2011We the CitizensPilot Citizens' Assembly
The research reported here sets out in some detail an experiment in deliberative democracy that took place in Ireland in 2011. The We the Citizens initiative featured a nationwide pilot citizens' assembly, the first of its kind in Ireland. It recruited a random selection of Irish residents to deliberate on specific issues relating to the economy and also reform in Irish politics. The paper explains the background to this, setting out how it was d…
The Power of Prime Ministers: Results of an Expert Survey
Prime ministers are self-evidently important actors in the politics of parliamentary democracies. While there has been an ongoing debate about prime ministerial power in the political science literature, progress has been slow in a debate dating from the 1960s. This lack of progress is because of two connected factors. One is the lack of a theoretical framework to study prime ministerial power. A framework is less likely to be developed because o…
Why is there no Radical Right Party in Ireland
The rise of the radical or extreme right parties in Europe – parties usually noted for strong, sometimes racist anti-immigrant ideologies – has attracted a great deal of attention in political science. Ireland, despite having some conditions favourable to the growth of such a party has no radical right party. This paper argues that that this is because the 'space' usually occupied by such parties – for young, poor people disaffected by economic c…
When do deliberative citizens change their opinions? Evidence from the Irish Citizens’ Assembly
Many claims have been made for the impact of deliberative democracy in generating change in people’s opinions, and often in predictable ways. It is claimed that people involved in deliberation change their minds on important issues. We also know that political participation and attitudes towards certain issues depend on political knowledge and civic education. To what extent are these linked? Do certain types of people react differently to their …
Ministerial Selection in Ireland: Limited Choice in a Political Village
Comparatively, Taoisigh have one of the most restricted pools from which to select ministers. This has an impact on the ability of Taoisigh to deselect ministers, which in turn affects the choices Taoisigh make in constructing their cabinets. This article argues that the small and stable political elite in Ireland cause personal relationships and loyalty to be important in Irish politics. As a result Taoisigh tend to be conservative when selectin…
Deliberative Democracy in Action Irish-style: The 2011We the CitizensPilot Citizens' Assembly
The research reported here sets out in some detail an experiment in deliberative democracy that took place in Ireland in 2011. The We the Citizens initiative featured a nationwide pilot citizens' assembly, the first of its kind in Ireland. It recruited a random selection of Irish residents to deliberate on specific issues relating to the economy and also reform in Irish politics. The paper explains the background to this, setting out how it was d…
Politics in the Republic of Ireland
The Irish Parliamentary Elections of 2007: New Gloss on an Old Engine
Religion and democratization in Northern Ireland: Is Religion Actually Ethnicity in Disguise
Few parts of Europe see as much religious observance as Northern Ireland, and fewer places in Europe have religion as one of the major cleavages on which politics seems to rest. In this article we argue that although religion is an important identifier, it acts as a reinforcer of ethno-national differences rather than as an intrinsically important difference itself. Religious differences while often symbolically important rarely emerge as points …
Yes, Minister: The Impact of Decision-making Rules on Geographically Targeted Particularistic Spending
This article tests a theory to explain particularistic political spending not normally used on parliamentary systems. Using constituency-level data, we evaluate the merits of theories predicting whether parties reward their core voters or target floating or swing voters to maximise the party's electoral return. In order to bring new insights into the process of parliamentary pork in a system which incentivises garnering a personal vote, we introd…
Punch Bags for Heavyweights? Minor Parties in Irish Government
While for much of the twentieth century Irish governments consisted of single parties, coalition government is now much more common. Furthermore, it is usual for minor parties to be part of these governments. This article looks at why minor parties come into existence, their policy performance in government and the electoral impact of government on minor parties. It is argued that the three are related – that minor parties emerge when larger part…
Setting Choices, Controlling Outcomes: The Operation of Prime Ministerial Influence and the UK's Decision to Invade Iraq
The prime minister's role in policy-making is paradoxical in that, although seemingly very powerful, prime ministers in fact have few rights to set policy unilaterally. It is then important to discover how prime ministers exercise influence over policy. Some studies suggest that it is through using resources within policy networks. From agenda-setting theory, this article proposes that prime ministers influence other actors by structuring the cho…
Commercialism and Election Framing: A Content Analysis of Twelve Newspapers in the 2011 Irish General Election
The framing of elections represents the most overt instance of the media’s power to influence politics. We content analyzed twelve newspapers’ coverage of the 2011 general election in Ireland. Ireland’s newspaper market has some special advantages for social scientists, as it allows us to separate the newspaper types/formats (tabloid vs. broadsheet) from their commercial basis (vulnerability or otherwise to short-term sales and profits). Therefor…
Does talking matter? A quasi-experiment assessing the impact of deliberation and information on opinion change
Deliberative democracy is for many the most significant development in democratic theory in the last 50 years and it has been used in some places to solve real-world policy problems. However, measuring the impact of deliberative methods is not clearly achievable because several independent variables are manipulated simultaneously. One of the main goals of deliberation is opinion change and thus it is important to understand why opinions change. T…
"Civil Compliance and "Political Luddism: Explaining Variance in Social Unrest During Crisis in Ireland and Greece
When badly hit by the same global financial and economic crisis in the early 2000s, the Irish and the Greek societies reacted in quite different ways. Whereas Ireland remained largely acquiescent and displayed a high degree of civil compliance, Greeks took massively to the streets using violence and attacking specifically the state and the state personnel, a phenomenon we refer to as "political Luddism." It is shown that the two countries are qui…
Explaining the 2011 Irish Presidential Election: Culture, Valence, Loyalty or Punishment
Irish presidential elections have sometimes been characterised as part of a ‘culture war’, where different sides of a cultural and policy space compete for the ‘soul of Ireland’. Alternatively, voters might choose on the basis of partisan loyalties, candidate characteristics, or as a way of punishing, rewarding or influencing government. This article argues that the 2011 presidential election was almost an ideology-free zone where candidates' pos…
Politics with Hidden Bases: Unearthing the Deep Roots of Party Systems
The research presented here uses a novel method to show that contemporary party systems may originate much further back than is usually assumed or might be expected—in reality many centuries. Using data on Ireland, a country with a political system that poses significant challenges to the universality of many political science theories, by identifying the ancestry of current party elites we find ethnic bases for the Irish party system arising fro…
Political data in 2005
Chronicle of a death foretold? understanding the decline of fine gael
Since its highpoint in the early 1980s, when under Garret FitzGerald, Fine Gael received almost 40 per cent of the first preference vote and took the party to within five seats of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael's electoral support has declined significantly and steadily to a stage where in 2002 they received little over 20 per cent of the vote. We examine some hypothesised causes of this decline, including the effect of the arrival of the PDs, and Irelan…
The leadership dilemma: Examining the impact of strong leaders on parties
Party leaders are often regarded as crucial to a party's success. Successful leaders tend to be big personalities who dominate their party's organisation, policy development and electoral campaigns. But does that control come with a price? We test to see if such leaders damage their parties in the medium term. This happens because strong leaders might be ceded too much control of the party organisation, policy and electoral strategy. We specifica…
Dáil reforms since 2011: Pathway to power for the ‘puny’ parliament
We know that the Dáil is dominated by the government. From 2010 to 2016 there was a clamour for change, which ultimately led to significant reforms of the Oireachtas, and specifically the Dáil. In this article we show that the basis for the weakness of the Dáil was the government’s control of the legislative agenda. This article tracks the changes that were made, and we make an early assessment of them. However, firm conclusions are difficult to …
The impact of the economic crisis on media framing: Evidence from three elections in Ireland
Media coverage of elections in Europe and North America has increasingly focused on the campaign as a game rather than a policy debate. This is often explained by the changes in media pressures. It may also reflect the narrowing of policy space between left and right and the comparative prosperity enjoyed in Europe and North America. But the relevance of policy varies. The global economic crisis might have led to an increased interest in policy a…
Fianna Fáil: The Glue of Ambiguity
Remember also that it is nearly impossible to translate the words “Fianna Fail”,’ Mr De Valera said with a smile. ‘There is some advantage in that also.’ (McInerney, 1976)Fianna Fail, for many, is
What’s in a name? Using surnames as data for party research
We present a novel method which can be used to show that contemporary party systems may originate much further back than is usually assumed or might be expected – in reality many centuries. Using data on Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, jurisdictions with party systems that differ significantly, one of which poses significant challenges to the universality of many political science theories, we show how using surnames as markers can conf…
Ireland
Economic and social statistics: http://www.cso.ie Standards in Public Offices Commission: http://www.sipo.gov.ie Election results: http://www.electionireland.org. General information from The Irish Times: http://www.ireland.com
Apathy or error? Questioning the Irish register of electors1
(2001). Apathy or error? Questioning the Irish register of electors. Irish Political Studies: Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 215-224
Indigenous and Foreign Industry: Characteristics and Performance
From the early 1930s to the late 1950s high tariff barriers and a broad prohibition on foreign ownership of firms operating in Ireland were the cornerstone of policies designed to promote growth of indigenous manufacturing from the very low base inherited at independence in 1922. By the late 1950s it was clear that protectionism had long outlived its usefulness and that few of the so-called infant industries had matured and become sufficiently co…
Ireland
Ireland
Ireland
For outside observers, Northern Ireland probably dominated the news from Ireland in 2000 but ‘the North’ was less of an issue within the Republic. Domestic matters were more important to the people of the fastest growing economy in the EU
Apathy or error? Questioning the Irish register of electors1
(2001). Apathy or error? Questioning the Irish register of electors. Irish Political Studies: Vol. 16, No. 1, pp. 215-224
Ireland
Ireland
Ireland
Ireland
Chronicle of a death foretold? understanding the decline of fine gael
Since its highpoint in the early 1980s, when under Garret FitzGerald, Fine Gael received almost 40 per cent of the first preference vote and took the party to within five seats of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael's electoral support has declined significantly and steadily to a stage where in 2002 they received little over 20 per cent of the vote. We examine some hypothesised causes of this decline, including the effect of the arrival of the PDs, and Irelan…
Finding a party and losing some friends: Overcoming the weaknesses of the prime ministerial figure in Italy
Silvio Berlusconi poses a problem for the existing literature on prime ministers and their power. Though Italian prime ministers are traditionally seen as weak, Berlusconi has been able to achieve some remarkable policy gains during his current term as prime minister. This article uses veto player theory and combines it with existing institutional and political explanations for variation in prime ministerial power to look at this challenging case…
Ireland
Economic and social statistics: http://www.cso.ie Standards in Public Offices Commission: http://www.sipo.gov.ie Election results: http://www.electionireland.org. General information from The Irish Times: http://www.ireland.com
Ireland
Investigating the Effects of Directly Electing the Prime Minister
There are good prima facie reasons to believe that directly electing a prime minister may provide the holder of that office with a tremendous power resource. Indeed some countries with weak prime ministers have debated this possible change, and one, Israel, carried it through. Using a theoretical argument based on the number of veto points in a political system, this article proposes that a directly elected prime minister will not increase the po…
Political data in 2005
Ministerial Selection in Ireland: Limited Choice in a Political Village
Comparatively, Taoisigh have one of the most restricted pools from which to select ministers. This has an impact on the ability of Taoisigh to deselect ministers, which in turn affects the choices Taoisigh make in constructing their cabinets. This article argues that the small and stable political elite in Ireland cause personal relationships and loyalty to be important in Irish politics. As a result Taoisigh tend to be conservative when selectin…
Setting Choices, Controlling Outcomes: The Operation of Prime Ministerial Influence and the UK's Decision to Invade Iraq
The prime minister's role in policy-making is paradoxical in that, although seemingly very powerful, prime ministers in fact have few rights to set policy unilaterally. It is then important to discover how prime ministers exercise influence over policy. Some studies suggest that it is through using resources within policy networks. From agenda-setting theory, this article proposes that prime ministers influence other actors by structuring the cho…
The Irish Parliamentary Elections of 2007: New Gloss on an Old Engine
The Power of Prime Ministers: Results of an Expert Survey
Prime ministers are self-evidently important actors in the politics of parliamentary democracies. While there has been an ongoing debate about prime ministerial power in the political science literature, progress has been slow in a debate dating from the 1960s. This lack of progress is because of two connected factors. One is the lack of a theoretical framework to study prime ministerial power. A framework is less likely to be developed because o…
Ireland
Why is there no Radical Right Party in Ireland
The rise of the radical or extreme right parties in Europe – parties usually noted for strong, sometimes racist anti-immigrant ideologies – has attracted a great deal of attention in political science. Ireland, despite having some conditions favourable to the growth of such a party has no radical right party. This paper argues that that this is because the 'space' usually occupied by such parties – for young, poor people disaffected by economic c…
Ireland
Ireland
Veto players, party government and policy-making power
Ireland
Political science (57 works) · Politics (48 works) · Law (44 works) · Law (43 works) · Sociology (37 works) · Electoral Systems and Political Participation (35 works) · Irish and British Studies (35 works) · Computer Science (20 works) · History (20 works) · Political economy (19 works)