ACIS Logo CFP: Taxation, Politics, and Protest in Ireland, 1692-2016

The series of austerity budgets passed in Ireland since the onset of the banking and sovereign debt crisis in 2008 have underscored the centrality of taxation to modern Irish politics. Disputes over who should pay, how taxes should be levied, and the mechanisms by which they should be collected have featured prominently in political debate, and have influenced popular attitudes toward government and the state. Taxes that have been imposed or collected in what the public perceives to be a particularly ‘unfair’ manner – such as the Household Charge and the Water Charge – have provoked protest, evasion, and resistance. Though most historically-informed commentary on the financial crisis has focused on the short- and medium-terms, tax policy has played a significant role in Irish politics since the late seventeenth century, when Ireland began to make the transition from a demesne state to a modern tax state. In order to illuminate the history of Irish taxation over the longue durée, the editors invite papers that examine taxation, politics, and protest in Ireland from 1692, when the Irish parliament asserted its right to superintend the public finances, to 2016, when the Oireachtas suspended the Water Charge in the face of opposition and taxpayer noncompliance. Essays between 7,000 and 9,500 words (incl. endnotes) that situate one or more of the following subjects in historical context will be particularly welcome:
• The relationship of fiscal policy to political legitimacy and national identity in Ireland
• The role of taxation and revenue collection in the development of the Irish state
• The constitutional, political, and political economic considerations or constraints that have helped to determine Irish fiscal policy
• The influence of political and economic thought on Irish fiscal policy
• The impact of pressure groups, special interests, and supra-national actors or institutions on Irish fiscal policy
• The part played by the incidence of taxation and methods of revenue collection in shaping public perceptions of the state in Ireland
• Changing attitudes to deficits, debt, and expenditure in relation to taxation
• Low- and anti-tax movements in Ireland
• Instances in which taxation has fomented popular protest or political discontent in Ireland
• Tax evasion and resistance in Ireland
• Taxation and social policy in Ireland
• Taxation, economic planning and industrial development
• Corporate taxation and ‘global’ Ireland.
This call for papers follows an expression of interest from the senior commissioning editor of economics and finance at Palgrave Macmillan, with a view to publication of an edited volume in Palgrave’s Studies in the History of Finance series. To be considered for inclusion, please send an abstract of approximately 500 words to Patrick Walsh at patrickanthonywalsh@gmail.com by 23 December 2016. Inquiries may be directed to either of the editors:
Douglas Kanter, Florida Atlantic University (dkanter1@fau.edu)
Patrick Walsh, University College London (patrickanthonywalsh@gmail.com)
The tentative deadline for submission of completed papers to the editors is 1 June 2018.