Taking a global perspective, this chapter examines the origins of legal systems to facilitate hydrocarbon exploitation and the growth of the petroleum industry. Identifying four main approaches to state resource management, the emergence of these regimes is situated within wider socio-economic contexts which illustrates connections between a state’s approach and shifts in political economy nationally and and internationally. In doing so, the influence of processes such as imperialism, Keynesianism and neoliberalism on state resource management becomes apparent. The chapter considers power struggles between states and oil companies and discusses the formation of the Organisation for Petroleum Exporting Countries and member states’ efforts to assert ‘permanent sovereignty’ over hydrocarbon resources. Deliberating the wave of nationalisations and increases in national oil companies which occurred during the 1970s, the ideas underpinning these developments are scrutinised alongside the ‘neoliberal counter- wave’ (Ryggvik, 2010) which occurred in the 1980s. Signifying a rollback in state participation in hydrocarbon exploitation globally amidst associated ideologies, changes in the latter decade have been overturned in recent years through a growth in national oil companies and moves by states towards asserting stronger control over hydrocarbons, thus illustrating some of the dynamics and conflicts of state resource management.

Summarising the book’s contents, this chapter argues that Ireland’s approach to the management of its gas and oil is fundamentally flawed and unless modified, will continue to cause difficulties in relation to the Corrib gas conflict and other areas which face potential hydrocarbon exploration and production. Although Irish state hydrocarbon management can be interpreted as an outcome of a state functioning within neoliberal capitalism, the state’s approach has been moulded in particular ways by the specific factors outlined in chapter nine. Therefore, tangible elements of the state’s approach can be altered in order to eradicate weaknesses and maximise advantages for citizens of Ireland as the owners of the gas and oil. This book concludes with a series of empirically grounded recommendations around how the Irish model can be transformed to ensure lasting benefits for Irish society. These novel and previously unpublished recommendations are organised by three main topics which are problematic: ownership, control and production of resources; issues within the State; public debate and research. By offering informed recommendations, I outline a blueprint for an alternative framework for Irish state hydrocarbon management thereby going beyond academic considerations to outlining a possible strategy for change.

This chapter analyses the interaction of Occitan (Oc) and vine to illustrate the Régional narrative which developed throughout the twentieth century. It discusses the impact of the annees 68 and notes that an increased national appetite developed for discussing the role of the regions in the centralised state. The newly politicised Occitan movement became grafted onto major moments of protest such as the miner's strike at Decazeville and the later peasant camp at Larzac after 1970. The alignment of the Occitan movement with the Défense movement was a worrying development for the forces of order, yet in both instances the Languedoc's republican inheritance prevented them tipping into revolutionary violence. Montredon arose as a result of the impunity with which the Comité Régional d'Action Viticole (CRAV) had conducted itself in the preceding year, now loosely allied with a group of Occitan nationalists railing against the internal colonialism of the north.

This is a general introduction to the book giving an outline of its contents. It gives a brief discussion of the historiography and outlines some of the themes and issues which will covered throughout the rest of the text. It explains the main arguments: that this book examines the structures, leadership, and work of a regional ‘third party’ at Westminster in the years from its reunification to its collapse.

This chapter focuses on the evidence emerging from authors study for the supportive coverage predicted by the elite-driven model. In many ways, British news media coverage of the Iraq invasion conformed to the predictions of the elite-driven model. Press and television news relied heavily on coalition sources and supportive battle coverage prevailed even among newspapers that had opted to oppose the war. The chapter provides an analysis of the ways in which the news media's visual depictions of the war reinforced supportive coverage. It highlights some of the most common types of images through which the war was visualised and considers the extent to which the selection of visuals contributed to the supportive approach to coverage. The chapter discusses some of the evidence that emerges for the three key explanatory factors (sources, patriotism and ideology) commonly associated with supportive news media coverage and the elite-driven model.

This chapter examines how the First World War transformed the leadership of the IPP. John Redmond’s unilateral declarations regarding the Irish Volunteer force – a nationalist alternative to the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force – caused tensions, specifically with John Dillon. Redmond’s pledge of the force to Home Defence and subsequently to full participation in the war effort signalled a radical realignment of policy. It builds upon a historiographical tradition that sees the First World War as the defining moment in modern Irish history. It examines the ways in which the Irish party were called upon to assist in wartime recruitment and how the war began a stagnation of the Home Rule movement which had appeared to achieve its goals in September of 1914 with the signing of the Home Rule Bill into law. By mid-1915, correspondence shows that Redmond and Dillon had patched up their differences, at least to the extent that they could find a modus vivendi.

Opening with a snapshot of the Corrib gas conflict, this chapter problematises the Irish state’s management of its gas and oil and provides the rationale for this publication and associated research. Spanning the period from 1957 to 2014, this book utilises innovative and previously unpublished data to examine how and why the Irish state developed its particular approach to the management of its gas and oil. This chapter elucidates the book’s multi-level (macro, meso and micro) focus and the breadth of topics under examination which incorporate matters simultaneously empirical and ideological, historical and current, extending beyond decision-making processes within the state system to their impacts on people’s lives in communities. This chapter also outlines the data collection process and discusses the incorporation of perspectives from the range of stakeholders associated with Irish hydrocarbon management, including representatives from civil society, the state bureaucracy, politicians, oil industry, and experts with knowledge of hydrocarbon management in other countries. The chapter closes with an overview of the book’s content.

This chapter analysis three case studies, which serve to represent the three differing modes of news media performance in wartime, as well as shedding more light on the news-making process. The Jessica Lynch case study, involving the 'dramatic' rescue of a US 'prisoner of war', highlights how compliant and deferential news media can be in wartime and can be viewed as an 'ideal type' example of supportive coverage. The case of Ali Abbas, an Iraqi child maimed in a coalition strike, provides a poignant illustration of the opportunities for more negotiated and oppositional reporting in wartime. The chapter presents an analysis of how effectively the anti-war movement maintained positive news media representation during the invasion helps to delineate the 'outer limits' of political dissent when British troops are in action.

Corrib gas was discovered in 1996 and its developers and some politicians originally presented it as a panacea for the socio-economic woes of rural, west Mayo. However, the reality of the project has had an opposite effect and Corrib gas has become synonymous with social upheaval, remaining un-produced eighteen years after discovery. This chapter traces the emergence of the Corrib gas conflict (1996-2005), discussing the gas discovery and the consortium’s interactions with the community living in the area designated as a home for the onshore gas processing terminal and pipeline. As the consortium progressed their plans for the project, local people began to develop concerns about its location on health, safety and environmental grounds. Utilising interview data from the range of stakeholders associated with the development, this chapter illustrates the diversity of opinions towards the project and ascertains the basis of growing opposition. This chapter lays the foundation for the overall book, illustrating how flaws within the state and oil companies’ approach contributed to the emergence of a conflict around the onshore location of the project, the escalation of which is examined in detail in the following chapter.

This chapter begins on the premise that, to understand the IPP, one must move away from sole focus on its chairman and identify and analyse the inner circle which shared the governance of the party with John Redmond. This oligarchical leadership model is compared to the Roman system of tetrarchy (rule by four), explaining how a loose suzerainty over different geographical spheres – Ireland and London – was divided up between the leaders. It also argues that the most powerful of the leadership was not, in fact, the chairman but John Dillon, former leader of the majority faction of Irish nationalists during the 1890s. The ways in which Dillon ousted former enemies from the party and ensured that he became the most important party member to John Redmond in the opening years of the twentieth century is another important aspect of this chapter.