vicduggan

Writing in 2011, as our economies struggled for traction after the global financial crisis, Dani Rodrik identified what he called a “globalisation paradox”. The Harvard economist contended that it was impossible to simultaneously have democracy, national sovereignty and deep economic globalisation: what he called a “trilemma”.

With neoliberalism then already in crisis, Rodrik’s analysis prefigured in some ways the political economy of the subsequent decade and a half: Brexit, the election of Trump, Bidenomics, the turn away from hyperglobalisation towards democratic accountability and national sovereignty. For a country such as Ireland that adroitly surfed the surging waves of globalisation, this new dispensation poses risks and challenges for the decades ahead. Ireland is a poster child for the very model Rodrik says has run its course.

*** A version of this book review was first published in The Irish Times on 3 January 2026 ***

‘The Field’ is perhaps the quintessential Irish drama. Bull McCabe embodies a
nation’s enduring obsession with land, an obsession hardly dimmed by the self-
inflicted housing crash of 2008-2011. To this day, housing is our most pressing public policy challenge, the property ladder still dividing ‘the smug from the damned.’

Those inclined to Irish exceptionalism may think ‘it could only happen here’. Mike Bird’s ‘The Land Trap’ shows it to be a near universal affliction. Bird, a journalist with The Economist, writes with verve and clarity, tracing  land’s role in global economic history, from ancient Babylon to modern-day Beijing. And yes, Ireland is a recurring case study, from the 19th century Land War to our 21st century housing crises.

*** A version of this book review was first published in The Irish Times on 20 December 2025 ***