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Irish politics and electoral system

November 15th, 2009

I always feel I am acting too arrogant when complaining about the Irish political system and I know I am unreasonably biased towards the way the Dutch political system works, but especially during the recent economic crisis, I sometimes really worry about how Ireland is run. Here is an interesting article in the Irish Times about how the constitutional setup of Ireland leads to inertia and lack of political leadership, written by a journalist from the Economist, Dan O’Brien. I particularly think his (very brief) analysis of the Irish electoral system and the lack of separation between government and parliament are in line with my impressions. It’s not surprising - I am a big fan of the Economist and often agree with their views. Anyway, I am curious what Irish readers of this blog think of these remarks.

Entry Filed under: politics, democracy