Transcript Document

Crisis Discourse in Ireland:
Enterprise Discourse on an Edge
Dr. Brendan K.
O’ROURKE,
School of
Marketing,
College of
Business,
Dublin Institute
of Technology.
Presentation to Discourse,
Communication and the Enterprise
(DICOEN) VI International Conference,
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University,
Hong Kong, People’s Republic of China,
September 8-10th, 2011.
Outline of Presentation
1. Enterprise discourse
2. Getting more particular
3. Ireland as an edge
4. Features of Irish enterprise discourse
5. Ireland and wider enterprise discourse
1. Enterprise Discourse: understanding &
brief history
Enterprise discourse:
A way of talking about everything as best run as a
small, new, fast-growing, owner-managed firm in a changing
competitive marketplace.
(Burrows, 1991a; Cohen and Musson, 2000; Fairclough, 1991
etc).
This can be traced in a more micro way in policy texts,
interactions in organisations, interviews with entrepreneurs,
language class rooms interaction etc.
(e.g. Chun 2009; O’Rourke, 2009)
For now a bit macro & bit more history
Foucault (1966) characterised the episteme of
his context as the ‘modern’ - identified as
starting with Kant (circa 1750).
As part of the modern there are
“the imperatives of the enterprising self: work on
yourself, improve the quality of your life,
emancipate your true self, eliminate
dependency, release your potential. The
healthy self is to be 'free to choose'.” Rose
(1992:152-153)
Richard Cantillon: An Irish-French banker &
economist was the first to use the term
entrepreneur in its modern sense (1755)
Cantillon as the first of the moderns (Spengler,
1954)
Cantillon was taken up by Smith (1776) and
other later economists (e.g. Bentham who
added some glamour to enterprise).
Enterprise discourse was strong in the 1800s
Enterprise discourse was used powerfully in
the 1800s e.g. by a British Merchant.
1900s: enterprise weaker… Managerial
Capitalism….Great Depression
Post-War age of managed capitalism
Hayek & ‘counter- revolution’. Hayeks
(1931) translated Cantillon into German.
Economic crisis of 1970s led to
a reinvigorated enterprise discourse
(Reagan & Thatcher).
2. Getting more particular
• Enterprise discourse with its template
for conducting everything as it is
imagined a small, owner-managed, new
and fast-growing firm does its business
has spread beyond Reagan, Thatcher &
the UK /USA. It has, until now, proved
robust.
So how is enterprise discourse doing
after the 2008+ international economic
crisis?
Focussing crisis discourse e.g.
1) How do / did Irish politicians use
enterprise discourse in justifying
subsidies to banks? (O’Rourke & Hogan, under
review)
The Extent of the Banking Breach of the
Enterprise Culture
Ireland “…has already committed itself
to spend €70 billion… That is 10 times
per head of population the amount the
US spent to rescue itself from its worst
banking crisis…” (Kelly, 2010)
59 Interviewer: Minister if we're looking at
the cost of the bank bailout as announced
this morning….your options in terms of
that budget plan are for cuts or taxes and
that burden falls on (.) the Irish citizen.
60 Minister : …The banks are out of the
way, now let's have a clear debate on the
public finances and how they can be
adjusted….
Source: O’Rourke & Hogan (under
review).
2) How economics experts using
enterprise discourse to explain the crisis?
FitzGerald & O’Rourke (in progress)
analyses a discussion about media
coverage of economics on the Irish
economists blog: shows the role of
experts in enterprise discourse.
FitzGerald is working with me on the
media construction of (Irish) economic
sovereignty after the IMF / Bailout.
Sovereignty as a way to steer
the Pig (1891)
The reward
of selfgovernment
as a control
of the pig
The
Irish
Party
3. Ireland as an Edge
•
On the edge economically Ireland as one of the
PIGS (Totaro, 2010) and a member of the GIPSY club (Gros, 2010).
As downloaded from
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/01/06/the_euro_is_dead on
20110827
A cartoon from 1887
Scotland
Wales
England
Ireland
Troubled
Politician
On the edge of USA /UK model: English speaking,
common law tradition, Anglo-American banking
model, low corporate tax rates
On the edge of Europe: Member of Euro, Social
Partnership model of labour relations until 2009,
Early adopter of European labour rights, generally
pro-European, enthusiastic receiver of CAP and
ESF.
Ireland as an ‘in-between taker’ of both EU and
USA/UK discourse but perhaps best thought of as
adoption of USA/UK in Irish and EU context .
4. Features of Irish Enterprise discourse
•
The ‘Closer to Boston or Berlin’ construction (Harney, 2000)
[Then Ireland’s Deputy Prime Minister & most pro-enterprise party]:
Only two choices apparently!
Not between England and Europe!
•
The social partnership approach:
Long antecedents
Active from 1987-2009 (Celtic Tiger)
Wage moderation and lower taxes
Everything a consensus (Phelan,2007)
•
Indigenous enterprise v. International Industry (FDI)
Nationalism: Can we Irish be real entrepreneurs?
“Nearly 45 per cent of them were Irish entrepreneurs leaving
existing Irish businesses to start new businesses… … That is
Irish business, spawning new Irish businesses.”
Minister Martin (2006)
•
Expansionary Fiscal Contraction (EFC)
Ireland fear of national debt from 1980s.
EFC is the magic solution
EFC claims that a decrease in government expenditure will
induce such an increase in private spending that despite the
reduction in government spending overall the economy will
expand (Giavazzi & Pagano,1990),
"Fiscal retrenchment led not to recession but to recovery. The
poor did not suffer. Rather their numbers were reduced.“
(McAleese, 1990:29).
Even among economists EFC is seen as a failed hypothesis for
Ireland (e.g. Barry & Devereux, 1995)
5.Ireland and Wider Enterprise Discourse
Celtic Tiger used as an example of Globalism’s success
“Two things Ireland does show beyond a doubt. First, small
countries on the fringe of rich trading areas can prosper
mightily. The curse of the periphery is a myth.
Second, globalisation, taken at the flood, is the fastest course to
wealth. What is most striking about Ireland's new economy is how
tightly it is linked to Europe and the world. If any country lends
substance to the cliché that the global economy is an opportunity
not a threat, it is Ireland” (Economist, 1997)
Essence of the Irish as an explanation of enterprise failure
“This [Ireland] is a sick, diseased, wretched and immoral corner of
Europe. Self government for the Irish is merely an excuse to thieve,
to lie, to indulge In corruption, to destroy everything that is precious
and beautiful.”
(anonymous email quoted by Synon, 2009) [UK Mail]
PIGS can be a burden…..
Source:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/sun_says/article2346423.ece?slidesho
wPopup=true&articleId=2346423&nSlide=308
As downloaded 20110827
From London’s Punch magazine in 1849…..
Ireland as a ‘Good Little Piggy’
“Greece ought to borrow a leaf from recession-savaged Ireland”
Barber (2010) [Financial Times blog]
.
.
“Yet Ireland shows that if you knuckle down, take the medicine and
reassure your creditors, then recovery can be relatively swift.
(Halligan, 2010) [UK Telegraph]
Generalising Ireland
Harvey (2005:9) ‘experiment carried out in the periphery became a model
for the formulation of policies in the centre...'
The generalisation of what might be good for a small open economy to large
less open economies:
Expansionary Fiscal Contraction may be more successful where
aggregate demand is not domestically determined.
Everyone can’t have competitive advantage from the lowest
corporation taxes
•
European versus USA/UK Model
1. Ireland’s failure due to Euro-involvement
“There IS a country worse off than us [UK]... how Ireland was destroyed by
obscene greed and the euro” (Synon, 2009) [Mail]
2. Ireland’s success due to following USA/UK model of Economic Freedom
“With the size of government in the economy reduced, the macroeconomic
environment stabilized, and the free trade policies that had existed for
decades, Ireland’s economy began growing…” (Powell, 2003)(Cato)
3. Ireland’s success due to Europeanization of policy
“In almost every respect, the thrust of Irish policy has been exactly
opposite to that of Tory-governed Britain.” Economist (1997) quoting
former Christian Democrat Irish Prime Minister
4. Ireland’s Failure due to USA/UK model
“But the most striking similarity between Ireland and America was ‘regulatory
imprudence’… …What really mattered was free-market
fundamentalism.” (Krugman, 2010) [New York Times]
Thank you!
Questions, comments & criticisms
very welcome, now and to
[email protected]