Crisis Discourse in Ireland Enterprise Discourse on an

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 -10 th, 2011.

Outline of Presentation 1. Enterprise discourse 2. Getting more particular 3. Ireland as an edge 4. Features of Irish enterprise discourse 5. Ireland 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, 1991 a; 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: 152153)

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 1800 s

Enterprise discourse was used powerfully in the 1800 s e. g. by a British Merchant.

1900 s: enterprise weaker… Managerial Capitalism…. Great Depression Post-War age of managed capitalism Hayek & ‘counter- revolution’. Hayeks (1931) translated Cantillon into German. Economic crisis of 1970 s 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? Fitz. Gerald & 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. Fitz. Gerald 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 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 1980 s. 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. “ (Mc. Aleese, 1990: 29). Even among economists EFC is seen as a failed hypothesis for Ireland (e. g. Barry & Devereux, 1995)

5. Ireland 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/article 2346423. ece? slideshow Popup=true&article. Id=2346423&n. Slide=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 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 Brendan. ORourke@dit. ie