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| List of Illustrations, Maps, Figures, Tables and Boxes | |
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| Preface and Acknowledgements | |
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| List of Abbreviations | |
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| Introduction | |
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| "What is Ireland? | |
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| Why study Ireland? | |
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| The British influence | |
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| Recent changes in Ireland | |
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| Causes and consequences | |
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| The Historical Context | |
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| Introduction: early Ireland | |
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| Ireland's Golden Age and the Viking wars | |
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| The Norman conquests and Gaelic recovery | |
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| The Tudor conquests | |
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| Protestant ascendancy | |
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| Union with Britain and the rise of nationalism | |
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| Revolt, independence and partition | |
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| Major events of the twentieth century in Ireland | |
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| Land and Peoples | |
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| Geography | |
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| The environment | |
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| The peoples of Ireland | |
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| The Changing Society | |
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| Social class: a homogeneous society? | |
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| The welfare state and health policy | |
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| Changing families in Ireland: breaking traditions | |
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| Education in Ireland | |
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| Crime and punishment in Ireland | |
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| Government and Policy Making | |
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| The constitutional make-up | |
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| The presidency | |
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| The Houses of the Oireachtas | |
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| The Taoiseach and cabinet | |
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| The bureaucracy | |
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| 'Agencification' in Ireland | |
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| The judiciary and justice system | |
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| Politics and Civil Society | |
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| Political culture | |
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| Elections | |
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| Parties and the party system | |
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| Interest groups | |
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| The media | |
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| The Economy | |
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| The structure of the Irish economy | |
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| The Euro | |
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| The Celtic Tiger and its causes | |
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| Why did it fail? Can it be revived? | |
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| Culture and Lifestyle | |
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| The arts | |
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| The Irish language and Irish English | |
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| Sports | |
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| The Irish pub and Irish drinking | |
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| Religion in Ireland and the decline of the Catholic Church | |
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| Unrestrained consumerism? | |
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| Ireland and the World | |
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| Emigration | |
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| Ireland, Northern Ireland and the world | |
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| Ireland's neutrality | |
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| The impact of the European Union | |
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| Conclusion | |
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| Recommended Reading | |
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| Online Resources | |
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| Bibliography | |
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| Index | |