Book by Thomas Murray
Contesting Economic and Social Rights in Ireland: 1848-2016 (2016, Cambridge University Press) ex... more Contesting Economic and Social Rights in Ireland: 1848-2016 (2016, Cambridge University Press) explores how social relations and power structures shape decisions to entrench economic and social rights in constitutions.
Articles by Thomas Murray
Clemens J. France (1877–1959), a labour lawyer at the Port of Seattle, contributed substantially ... more Clemens J. France (1877–1959), a labour lawyer at the Port of Seattle, contributed substantially to the making of the 1922 Irish Free State Constitution. Notably, he advocated referendum and initiative measures similar to those used in the State of Washington. France also advocated egalitarian socioeconomic development as a basis for genuine national independence. Ultimately, proposals for an 'economic common-wealth' and for direct democratic mechanisms met with very limited success. Their reception indicates the ideological, institutional, and interest-based constraints on constitutional engineering in post-revolutionary Ireland. France's unsuccessful interventions in Dublin are best understood in light of what Duncan Kennedy has described as 'the globalisation of social legal thought' in the early twentieth century. The goal of rethinking law as a purposive activity, newly designed to regulate laissez-faire capitalism , consistently underpinned France's socio-legal biography from the Municipal League in Progressive-era Seattle to his Directorship of Social Welfare in postwar Rhode Island. Retracing the Transatlantic life and social legal thought of Clemens France demonstrates the importance of rethinking apparently self-contained, national constitutional development as part of a broader, transnational exchange of legal institutions and ideas. It also suggests a role for legal life writing in shedding light on the apparently anonymous globalisation of legal ideas and institutions.
Recent accounts of constitutional development have emphasised commonalities among diverse constit... more Recent accounts of constitutional development have emphasised commonalities among diverse constitutions in terms of the transnational migration of legal institutions and ideas. World-systems analysis gives critical expression to this emergent intellectual trajectory. Since the late 18 th century, successive, international waves of constitution-making have tended to correspond with decisive turning points in the contested formation of the historical capitalist world-system. The present article attempts to think through the nature of this correspondence in the Irish context. Changes to the Irish constitution, I suggest, owed to certain local manifestations of anti-systemic movements within the historical capitalist world-system and to constitution-makers' attempts to contain—militarily, politically and ideologically—these movements' democratic and egalitarian ideals and practices. Various configurations of the balance of power in Irish society between " national " (core-peripheral) and " social " (capital-labor/ " other ") forces crystallised in constitutional form. Thus far, conservative and nationalist constitutional projects have tended to either dominate or incorporate social democratic and radical ones, albeit a process continually contested at critical junctures by civil society and by the organized left, both old and new.
The present article draws on a critical theory of law ‘from below’ and a range of
archival source... more The present article draws on a critical theory of law ‘from below’ and a range of
archival sources to account for the contested role and significance of economic and social
rights in the making of the 1937 Irish Constitution. That socio-economic rights featured so
prominently in the constitution-making process owed, as elsewhere, to constitution-makers’
concerns for ‘class-abatement’ during the Great Depression. During various agrarian,
labour and women’s struggles in 1930s Ireland, republicans, communists, feminists and
trade unionists created a diversity of constitutions and programmes. In response to these
mobilisations, state constitution-makers articulated a highly selective form of ‘Catholic
social’ constitutionalism. The 1937 Irish Constitution thus left the existing laws of the
market unchanged but provided for a distinctly ‘national’ family law, an outcome defensive
of the country’s peripheral agrarian political economy and of the state’s outsourcing its comparatively
minimal welfare effort to the Catholic Church.
Socio-economic rights are ethico-political claims to employment, social security, health,
educati... more Socio-economic rights are ethico-political claims to employment, social security, health,
education and adequate living standards, the understanding and contestation of which have
changed over time. In this article, I examine the first wave of attempts to constitutionalize
socio-economic rights in Mexico (1917), Weimar Germany (1919) and, in particular, the
Irish Free State (1922). The real politics of constitutionalizing socio-economic rights, I argue,
centred on a clash between popular, anti-systemic movements and governments’ attempts
to contain the ideals and practices of these movements. In all three cases, escalating popular
militancy spurred state constitution makers into proposing socio-economic rights as an
alternative to revolution. In the Irish Free State, however, the ruling class’ successful
containment – militarily, politically and ideologically – of social movements’ ideals and
practices ensured more conservative constitutional forms predominated, emphasizing
national identity and private property rights. The critical discourse analysis of the Irish
constitution-making process demonstrates the salience of both ‘national’ (core–peripheral)
and ‘social’ (capital–labour) relations in determining final constitutional forms of socioeconomic
rights. For socio-economic rights advocates and scholars today, these findings
invite fresh reflection on the limits of claiming rights from the state in a capitalist society.
Book Reviews by Thomas Murray
We are, somewhat unsurprisingly, where we are. But how did we get there? And does our constitutio... more We are, somewhat unsurprisingly, where we are. But how did we get there? And does our constitution have anything to do with it? It can be argued that the 1937 assemblage of principles has served us well. But who exactly has it served well? The property-owners or the people?
Newspaper Articles by Thomas Murray
Published as part of the UCD/Irish Independent Decade of Centenaries series, 1916 Collection.
Blog Pieces by Thomas Murray
Contemporary activists in Ireland's water struggles continue to question the disjuncture between ... more Contemporary activists in Ireland's water struggles continue to question the disjuncture between direct democratic forms of popular self-organization and representative democratic forms such as the party and constituent assembly.
Drafts by Thomas Murray
Today, the key technical and political challenge for those attempting socially innovative forms o... more Today, the key technical and political challenge for those attempting socially innovative forms of education remains that of combining technology with human empathy in such a way that both communities and individual learners can flourish and fulfill their potential. In this paper, we map the contours of social innovation and community education in the Republic of Ireland. We begin by outlining the social challenge of educational inequality in Ireland today. In particular, specific challenges and opportunities for education are presented in age of rapid digital disruption and marked digital division. We then present a case-study in social innovation seeking to address these challenges. Launched in 2016, An Cosán Virtual Community College is a social enterprise set up to scale the work of An Cosán, a community education centre that has served the community of Tallaght West for over thirty years. An Cosán VCC utilises a blended online learning model to provide a wide variety of introductory and higher education programmes to learners and communities throughout the island of Ireland. VCC demonstrates the potential of harnessing 21st century learning technologies to a community education ethos to empower learners and their communities.
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Book by Thomas Murray
Articles by Thomas Murray
archival sources to account for the contested role and significance of economic and social
rights in the making of the 1937 Irish Constitution. That socio-economic rights featured so
prominently in the constitution-making process owed, as elsewhere, to constitution-makers’
concerns for ‘class-abatement’ during the Great Depression. During various agrarian,
labour and women’s struggles in 1930s Ireland, republicans, communists, feminists and
trade unionists created a diversity of constitutions and programmes. In response to these
mobilisations, state constitution-makers articulated a highly selective form of ‘Catholic
social’ constitutionalism. The 1937 Irish Constitution thus left the existing laws of the
market unchanged but provided for a distinctly ‘national’ family law, an outcome defensive
of the country’s peripheral agrarian political economy and of the state’s outsourcing its comparatively
minimal welfare effort to the Catholic Church.
education and adequate living standards, the understanding and contestation of which have
changed over time. In this article, I examine the first wave of attempts to constitutionalize
socio-economic rights in Mexico (1917), Weimar Germany (1919) and, in particular, the
Irish Free State (1922). The real politics of constitutionalizing socio-economic rights, I argue,
centred on a clash between popular, anti-systemic movements and governments’ attempts
to contain the ideals and practices of these movements. In all three cases, escalating popular
militancy spurred state constitution makers into proposing socio-economic rights as an
alternative to revolution. In the Irish Free State, however, the ruling class’ successful
containment – militarily, politically and ideologically – of social movements’ ideals and
practices ensured more conservative constitutional forms predominated, emphasizing
national identity and private property rights. The critical discourse analysis of the Irish
constitution-making process demonstrates the salience of both ‘national’ (core–peripheral)
and ‘social’ (capital–labour) relations in determining final constitutional forms of socioeconomic
rights. For socio-economic rights advocates and scholars today, these findings
invite fresh reflection on the limits of claiming rights from the state in a capitalist society.
Book Reviews by Thomas Murray
Newspaper Articles by Thomas Murray
Blog Pieces by Thomas Murray
Drafts by Thomas Murray
archival sources to account for the contested role and significance of economic and social
rights in the making of the 1937 Irish Constitution. That socio-economic rights featured so
prominently in the constitution-making process owed, as elsewhere, to constitution-makers’
concerns for ‘class-abatement’ during the Great Depression. During various agrarian,
labour and women’s struggles in 1930s Ireland, republicans, communists, feminists and
trade unionists created a diversity of constitutions and programmes. In response to these
mobilisations, state constitution-makers articulated a highly selective form of ‘Catholic
social’ constitutionalism. The 1937 Irish Constitution thus left the existing laws of the
market unchanged but provided for a distinctly ‘national’ family law, an outcome defensive
of the country’s peripheral agrarian political economy and of the state’s outsourcing its comparatively
minimal welfare effort to the Catholic Church.
education and adequate living standards, the understanding and contestation of which have
changed over time. In this article, I examine the first wave of attempts to constitutionalize
socio-economic rights in Mexico (1917), Weimar Germany (1919) and, in particular, the
Irish Free State (1922). The real politics of constitutionalizing socio-economic rights, I argue,
centred on a clash between popular, anti-systemic movements and governments’ attempts
to contain the ideals and practices of these movements. In all three cases, escalating popular
militancy spurred state constitution makers into proposing socio-economic rights as an
alternative to revolution. In the Irish Free State, however, the ruling class’ successful
containment – militarily, politically and ideologically – of social movements’ ideals and
practices ensured more conservative constitutional forms predominated, emphasizing
national identity and private property rights. The critical discourse analysis of the Irish
constitution-making process demonstrates the salience of both ‘national’ (core–peripheral)
and ‘social’ (capital–labour) relations in determining final constitutional forms of socioeconomic
rights. For socio-economic rights advocates and scholars today, these findings
invite fresh reflection on the limits of claiming rights from the state in a capitalist society.