Political Economy

Ireland Political Economy Trade Unionism

Public Sector Strikes and Union Strategy 

150,000 public sector workers recently undertook a 24-hour strike across the North. The demand was principally in relation to pay. Adding fuel to worker discontent are strained public services, which impact labour effort via intensification but also relativity of pay. Northern Irish workers’ salaries compare unfavourably to equivalents in Britain. […]

Imperialism Political Economy

Empires do crumble!

Engels said, “The nation cannot be free if it oppresses other nations. The force needed to oppress others in the end will turn against them.” All have a beginning, they flourish, and then they implode under their own weight. Spain explored the world, discovered new land masses, and brought many […]

Political Economy

Is artificial intelligence a scourge?

In the preface of his book SuperIntelligence, Nick Bostrom writes: “The human brain has capabilities that the brains of other animals lack. It is to these distinctive capabilities (language, technology and complex social organization) that we owe our dominant position on the planet.” The question is whether these capabilities will […]

Political Economy

The right to repair

Small business owners, farmers, tech enthusiasts, workers, and environmentalists are forming an unlikely alliance, fighting for the right to repair our own stuff. How did it get this way, and what is the Marxist perspective? In this article I will dig deeper into the “right to repair” movement. Planned obsolescence […]

Political Economy Theory

Capitalism and democracy

Democracy is a combination of two Greek words, dēmos (people) and kratos (rule). As societies change, some words wither away, some new words come into existence, and some words change meaning. Democracy has a broader meaning today than in ancient Greece. The democracy of the ancient Greeks had its limitations […]

Ireland Political Economy

Boom or bust?

In Ireland the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and more people are falling into poverty every day. The Central Statistics Office is the statistical agency responsible for gathering information relating to economic, social and general activities and conditions. It collects and “analyses” this type of information […]

Featured Ireland Political Economy

New year, same problems

As we enter 2023, working people are still affected by long-standing problems: shortage of housing, crumbling health service, low wages, precarious work, spiralling rents, and growing inequality. Many of these conditions plague people in the Six Counties, with the added complication caused by British-imposed partition: sectarianism, a built-in unstable political […]