Our History & Policy section is where historians have the opportunity to contribute to policy debates. The papers illustrate how studying the past helps us understand the present and includes features on the financial crisis, the Irish health system and the Occupy movement.
Currently History Hub.ie has 11 Working Papers in History and Policy available. The papers can be read on the site or downloaded as PDFs.
The full list is:
Does the Occupy Movement have a future? Lessons from History by Dr Sarah Campbell (Newcastle University).
The curse of the Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstake: A hospital system, not a health system by Professor Mary E. Daly (UCD).
Writing the History of the Financial Crisis: Lessons from the South Sea Bubble by Dr Patrick Walsh (IRCHSS CARA Postdoctoral Research Fellow jointly attached to the Dept.of History, University College London, and the School of History and Archives, University College Dublin).
The Impact of Pay-TV on Sport by Dr Paul Rouse (UCD).
Credit and Constitution-Making, Irish Style by Thomas Murray (UCD).
Lemass, economic policy and the absence of an Irish Mercantile Marine by Dr Bryce Evans (Liverpool Hope University).
Executive Secrecy and Access to Policy by Jennifer M. Kavanagh (TCD & WIT).
Politicians, Bureaucracy and the Economy – Then and Now by Professor Frank Barry (TCD).
Parades, Politics and the Peace Process in Northern Ireland by Melinda Sutton (Newcastle University).
Special History and Policy series on the Seanad:
Historical precedents and modern propositions for Ireland’s upper house by Dr Conor Mulvagh (UCD & DIFP)
Past Reforms and Present Policy: examining the Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act, 1947 by Dr Elaine Byrne (University of New South Wales Global Irish Studies Centre)
Seanad abolition is no threat to our democracy – more an opportunity. Opinion piece by Dr Eoin O’Malley (DCU)
Proposal to abolish Seanad is an ‘awesome admission of failure’. Opinion piece by Prof Diarmaid Ferriter (UCD)
One house is plenty: total abolition would enhance Irish democracy‘. Opinion piece by Paschal Donohue TD, Minister for European Affairs.
We should not willingly walk into a constitutional no-man’s land. Opinion piece by Brian Murphy (UCD)
Germany before 1914: social reform and British emulation by Dr Conor Mulvagh (UCD).
Brawling Publicly: The evolution of Anglo-Irish relations by Dr Sarah Campbell (Newcastle University)
Sports Rights Commercialization Revisited: Sky and the GAA by Dr Paul Rouse (UCD).
Pacta Sunt Servanda once again: the story of Greece and Ireland by Patrick Healy.
We welcome contributions from historians working on all periods and themes, based in Ireland or abroad, and we accept proposals for new papers at any time. They should be grounded in history and relevant to policy matters. We welcome constructive policy ideas of importance to government, NGOs, the media, etc. Alternatively, we are also interested in papers that focus on lessons from history.
Each paper should be between 2,000 and 4,000 words, with a 150-word abstract which will introduce the paper on the website. The UCD School of History style should be used (see here). The potential audience for the History and Policy papers includes academics and students from different disciplines across various universities, people who work in the media, policymakers, and people who browse the internet looking for interesting stories, cutting-edge research and lively debates.
Opinion Pieces
We also welcome opinion pieces from historians which shed light on ‘hot topics’ or issues of the day, and which highlight how an historical expertise informs such opinions. These pieces are shorter in scope, approximately 1,500-1,800 words with limited footnotes.
Our contact details are here.
Image: Dáil chamber, Leinster House. Source: Tommy Kavanagh [CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons
