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1916 Centenary Commemoration

Ireland 1916-2016: The Promise and Challenge of National Sovereignty

In November 2016, NUI Galway hosted an important international academic conference entitled, Ireland 1916-2016: The Promise and Challenge of National Sovereignty.  The conference was intended as the Irish higher education sector’s contribution to a year of reflection on Ireland’s nationhood and identity.

Over three days, leading scholars reflected on national sovereignty and questioned how the Irish State has delivered on the promise of Easter 1916. Deliberations and discussion centred on what the future might hold for Ireland, as a small nation state on the periphery of Europe, in an increasingly globalised future.

NUI Galway was pleased to host this important national conversation.  The Steering Group, led by Dr Maurice Manning and Professor Nicholas Canny took care to ensure wide representation from all elements of higher education on the island of Ireland with universities, institutes of technology, other colleges, independent scholars  and cultural institutions all contributing to a stimulating and enriching conference.

In order to ensure the widest possible access to the conference proceedings, NUI Galway is delighted to publish the plenary talks in a volume produced by Four Courts Press. To augment this publication all plenary sessions, featuring introductory comments by each Chair and followed by panel discussion, along with opening remarks by An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny TD and others are available below on this dedicated website:


About the Book
Ireland, 1916–2016 
The promise and challenge of national sovereignty
Nicholas Canny, Tom Boylan & Mary Harris, editors 
 

In this conference volume six distinguished scholars of Irish birth or descent – Philip Pettit, Roy Foster, Kevin O’Rourke, Clair Wills, Louise Richardson and Brendan O’Leary – who hold senior positions at some of the world’s leading universities, reflect on what the ambitions and achievements of the men and women who supported the Rising of 1916 have meant to succeeding generations of Irish people at home and abroad. More specifically they consider the theme of the conference from a number of broad perspectives including: the doctrines of classical republicanism and liberalism; the historical contextualization of the major changes over the last century; the economic fortunes, failures and achievements of the new independent state; the cultural representation and interpretation of our post-independent experience; the role of current and future university education in Ireland, and the major challenges Ireland is now facing in a rapidly changing and globalized world.
Available November 2017
Politics: Prof Philip Pettit, Princeton University European Republicanism: The Past and the Potential
History: Prof Roy Foster, University of Oxford The Promise of 1916  
Culture: Prof Clair Wills, Princeton University Culture and Identity in a Globalised World
Economy: Prof Kevin O’Rourke, University of Oxford Economy, Society and the Well-Being of Citizens
Education: Prof Louise Richardson, University of Oxford The Challenges, Promise and Responsibility of Education in the 21st Century
Politics: Prof Brendan O’Leary, University of Pennsylvania Political Futures and New Paradigms
Conference Opening Dr Jim Browne NUI Galway
Address by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny  
Address by Minister Heather Humphries