Editor's introduction: Thirty years of "Irish Studies in International Affairs"

Abstract

Editor's introduction Thirtyyearsof IrishStudies inInternational Affairs John Doyle Centre for International Studies, School of Law and Government, Dublin CityUniversity In addition to having a strong focus this year on the concept of the 'responsibility to protect' (R2P), this issue of Irish Studies in International Affairs marks the thirtieth year of publication of the journal?something of a milestone and one that provides an opportunity to look back over the development of the journal itself and thewider study of international affairs in Ireland over that time period. A National Committee for the Study of International Affairs had been established by theRoyal IrishAcademy in 1977, and thefirst issue of this journal two years later published a series of papers from seminars and the committee's first annual conference. That issue, edited by Liam de Paor and Patrick Keatinge, had a focus that would not be out of place today?Ireland's relationship with theLeague of Nations and United Nations, Anglo-Irish relations, Ireland's development policy and the direction of Irish foreign policy. The committee thatoversaw the launch of the journal included, in addition to the editors, some people who have retained a connection with theAcademy's international affairs committee to the present day?Garret FitzGerald and Noel Dorr?and academics who went on to publish in the journal frequently in the following years. The demand to publish the journal reflected a wider sense that Ireland needed a greater level of academic reflection on foreign affairs. The low level of debate on foreign policy matters was also of concern tomembers of Dail Eireann at that time. In 1978, a future leader of theLabour party,Ruairi Quinn, speaking in thefirst debate on foreign affairs after Fianna Fail's overwhelming victory in the 1977 election, called for a public debate on the values that should inform foreign policy. In the course of his speech, Quinn said that 'there appears to be a lack of interest in foreign affairs' and that in the past, even during the period of external affairsminister Frank Aiken's high-profile activityin the UnitedNations inthelate 1950s, thedecisions made in relation to Ireland's foreign affairs activities were 'of concern perhaps more to the individuals [involved] and the parties rather than to thepublic'.1 He argued that thiswas set to change, by virtue of our entry into and membership of theEEC which includes the present situation where the nine member states are attempting tomove towards common lDdil Debates, vol. 306, cols 465-75,4 May 1978. Author's e-mail: john.doyle@dcu.ie IrishStudies inInternational Affairs, Vol. 20 (2009), 1-5. doi: 10.3318/ISIA.2009.20.1 2 Irish Studies inInternational Affairs policy positions on major issues of foreign affairs, we no longer have to depend purely on our powers of persuasion. We have in a vague and perhaps ill-defined form a power which we never previously had, albeit a negative one, and to that extent foreign affairs is no longer an irrelevant luxury that can be talked out on a Thursday afternoon by people who happen to have an interest in things beyond the seas. It affects us in a very real way...we have a responsibility by virtue of having a say and therefore some power.2 There was at that time no parliamentary forum for consistent discussion on foreign affairs. Academia had been equally slow to formalise the interests of individuals. While therewere individual academics with an interest in international affairs,many of them involved in the launch of the journal, no Irish university offered a specialised degree in international relations at either primary or postgraduate level. Those who gave impetus to the study of international affairs through the journal are due a debt of gratitude, as now, 30 years later, the formal university study of international relations is one of the fastest growing sub-disciplines in the broad social sciences/humanities area in Ireland. Students can now takemodules in international affairs at every Irish university and have the option in a number of colleges of taking a full degree in international relations/studies at BA, MA or PhD level, and in specialisms such as development, international security, peace and conflict studies or EU...