Ireland’s economic boom from 1994-2007 earned it international attention as a small state that was seen as a model of developmental success in this era of globalisation. However, the swift and deep collapse of the Irish economy in 2008 is causing a re-assessment of the basis of its success and identifying the failure to recognise or address emerging vulnerabilities, both in the financial and in the economic spheres. This paper, drawing on book-length treatments of the Irish collapse by both proposers, will interrogate the extent to which size has played a role in the Irish collapse. This it will do by firstly identifying the sources of Ireland’s economic success and what these reveal about the state’s strategy for development. The paper will then analyse the causes of the Irish collapse, locating them not only in failures of economic or regulatory policy but in failures of the political and administrative system more widely. This then will be linked to themes in the small states literature, both about economic vulnerability and about how political systems seek to address these. The utility of these to interpreting the Irish case will then be discussed and the options ahead for Ireland’s political economy outlined.
