The privatisation of some state infrastructural assets in 2000 signified a decisive break from the ideology underpinning the 1975 terms and the decade which followed brought further changes to the licensing system and legislative framework. Documenting such amendments and offshore and onshore exploration and production, this chapter highlights how social pressures resulting from these activities influenced the introduction of the 2007 licensing terms, a 2012 review of Ireland’s licensing regime by a cross-party Government committee, and a 2014 report by Wood Mackenzie. Summarising changes to Ireland’s licensing regime from 1959 to 2014, this chapter articulates problematic elements of the state’s model and emphasises a certain consistency despite shifts in political leadership and levels of control over state resource management. By tracing the evolution of the state’s approach, connections begin to appear between the state’s management of its resources and occurrences in Irish political economy. Global trends also appear to have had an impact with the 1975 terms reflecting a growth in resource nationalisation internationally while the 1992 terms demonstrate the influence of neoliberal ideology. Given such correlations, further insights can be gained by comparing Ireland’s experiences with those of other countries - a task which commences in the following section.

Opposition to the Corrib gas project entered a new phase in mid-2005 when five men were jailed for refusing to obey a High Court injunction taken against them by Shell. Rather than dissuade people from opposing the project, the jailing of the ‘Rossport Five’ served to escalate resistance while projecting the issue into the country’s media as a national, rather than simply local, dispute. This chapter articulates the multiplicity of issues underpinning resistance and provides historical detail on the progress of the Corrib gas project. Attention is paid to civil society reactions such as nonviolent direct action alongside the deployment of state and private actor coercive tactics to repress such dissent, juxtaposed with efforts to build consent. This chapter advances analysis of the dispute by emphasising the state’s role and illustrating how the state’s defective approach has led to emergent controversies surrounding potential onshore gas production via ‘fracking’ and possible near-shore oil production in Dublin Bay. Raising key questions around how and why the state developed such an approach to the management of its gas and oil, this chapter sets the scene for an examination of the historical development of the Irish model which occurs in subsequent chapters.

Nearly every country in the world has asserted ownership over the hydrocarbons within its territory (Easo, 2009) and Ireland is no different. Ireland’s approach to resource management, however, is dissimilar to many other countries with outcomes that include the transfer of ownership and control of state resources to private interests and one of the lowest rates of government take in the world. The Irish model has also resulted in a prolonged conflict which has engulfed the lives of many people for over a decade. In line with Karl (1997), Dunning (2009), and Di John (2010) who emphasise the value of examining interactions between political institutions and the economy to understand how states manage their resources, and responding to questions raised in the preceding chapter, this chapter follows a critical political economy path to explain how and why the Irish state manages its hydrocarbons in the manner adopted. The nine key factors identified as shaping the Irish approach illustrate how the state’s approach has been shaped by diverse and conflicting dynamics and moulded by micro, meso and macro level forces which intersect with specific ideological, political, economic and social influences to create a model of state resource management unique in comparison with other countries.

This chapter extends the analysis of models of hydrocarbon management by considering their implementation via fiscal systems as a specific strand of state policy. This chapter combines academic and industry literature to examine the four main approaches to state resource management and their association with the ‘development status’ of a country (Kaiser and Pulsipher, 2004; 2006). Attention is paid to the influence of ideology on the four approaches, particularly in relation to how the models originate from varying perspectives of state resource ownership and control. The chapter considers the utilisation of these types of fiscal systems in a range of countries and discusses their outcomes in the form of ‘rent’ or ‘government take’. Utilising secondary data from several international studies of ‘government take’, the chapter emphasises how Ireland’s model of resource management is unique both in terms of it being a licensing system (used in less than half the countries with hydrocarbon production worldwide) and its very low rates of government take (one of the lowest in the world). Thus, this chapter underscores the distinctiveness of the Irish model, raising further questions around why Ireland’s approach is quite exceptional - answers to which are provided in the following chapter.

Opening with a presentation of arguments against a comparison of the Norwegian and Irish approaches to hydrocarbon management, this chapter uncovers some of the discourses underpinning industry, political and state bureaucracy perspectives on the two models. It also reveals weaknesses in these standpoints and stresses the value of comparing both countries’ approaches as a mechanism for developing a critique of the Irish model. The resultant appraisal begins with an overview of socio-economic and historical similarities between the two countries, progressing to a summation of the political, social, economic and ideological influences which have moulded the Norwegian model. While popular opinion often holds the Norwegian model as a perfect approach, this chapter also outlines the darker side of Norway’s petroleum history. The author presents some partial explanations for divergences between Ireland and Norway, such as Ireland’s distinct developmental path, power struggles between interest groups, establishing key questions which are answered in the following chapter. Using the conceptual and empirical political, economic, social, and ideological parameters identified through the review of Norway’s model, the following chapter interrogate the factors shaping the Irish state’s model of hydrocarbon management. Lessons from this case study are also reviewed in chapter eleven which outlines recommendations to improve the Irish model.

Keating’s terms were introduced at a time when interest in North West Europe’s hydrocarbon potential was at its peak due to large discoveries in the North Sea. Consequently, some politicians, oil industry representatives and trade unions anticipated an economic boom in Ireland courtesy of oil and gas exploitation. This chapter discusses hydrocarbon activities onshore and offshore Ireland in the period from 1976 to 1999, connecting these with shifts in the Irish state’s model of hydrocarbon management and oil companies’ investment strategies. Progressing beyond empirical happenings, this chapter examines the growth in popularity of neoliberal ideology and its influence on Ireland’s approach to its gas and oil. Attention to restrictions imposed on state companies like the Irish National Petroleum Corporation, and the encapsulation of a free-market perspective in the 1992 licensing terms, illustrates the impact of prevailing ideologies and global trade on the Irish model of hydrocarbon management. This chapter also considers the oscillating power of interest groups such as the oil industry lobby and the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union and contemplates their interactions with different political parties and the state bureaucracy.

This chapter seeks to shed light on the strategic reorientation of social democratic parties in the 1990s and the reasons why these parties have lost support among working-class voters while failing to expand their electoral base among other voters. Focusing on the Swedish experience, the chapter addresses three topics: (1) what social democrats have done in government; (2) how the social background and practices of social democratic politicians have changed; and (3) how the decline of trade unions and changing trade union practices have undermined working-class support for social democratic parties.

The introduction to this volume advances its collective research agenda of renewing and advancing critical approaches to friendship and modern personal life. It outlines what a critical approach to friendship entails and delineates three central themes underlying debates in the social science literature on friendship: ideals, choice, and contexts. It both consolidates these debates and offers new directions for advancing them through a series of key interventions in critical approaches to friendship. These interventions are divided into the core thematic sections of the book: (1) critical intimacies, differences, and ruptures; (2) critical sociabilities beyond the private; and (3) critical relational junctures. The introduction also elucidates the thematic cohesion of the volume, emphasizing how the chapters are united by a commitment to ethnographic methods, interpretive theoretical approaches, and critical theory.