O'Hearn, Denis 1953-

PERSONAL:

Born 1953. Education: University of Michigan, Ph.D., 1988.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Sociology and Social Policy, Queen's University, 1-3 College Park E., Belfast BT7 1NN, Ireland. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, former associate professor; Queen's University, Belfast, Ireland, professor of sociology, 1994—. Fulbright professor at University College, Dublin, Ireland, 1991, 1992; also visiting professor at universities in Europe and the United States. Board member, Centro de Estudos Sociais, Coimbra, Portugal. Active in the West Belfast Economic Forum and other community research projects.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Pew prize for distinguished scholarship, American Sociological Association, 2002, for The Atlantic Economy: Britain, the U.S. and Ireland.

WRITINGS:

(Editor, with Bradford Barham and Stephen G. Bunker) States, Firms, and Raw Materials: The World Economy and Ecology of Aluminum,University of Wisconsin Press (Madison, WI), 1994.

Inside the Celtic Tiger: The Irish Economy and the Asian Model, Pluto Press (Sterling, VA), 1998.

(Editor, with Ronnie Munck) Critical Development Theory: Contributions toward a New Paradigm,Zed Books (New York, NY), 1999.

The Atlantic Economy: Britain, the U.S. and Ireland,Manchester University Press (New York, NY), 2001.

Nothing but an Unfinished Song: Bobby Sands, the Irish Hunger Striker Who Ignited a Generation,Nation Books (New York, NY), 2006.

Contributor to professional journals, including American Sociological Review, American Journal of Sociology, Politics & Society, Social Problems, and British Sociological Review.

SIDELIGHTS:

A university professor interested in industrialization, social issues, Marxian political economics, and transnational corporations, Denis O'Hearn has drawn critical attention for his reasoned analyses of the current economic boom in Ireland. HisInside the Celtic Tiger: The Irish Economy and the Asian Model and The Atlantic Economy: Britain, the U.S. and Ireland dispel some of the zealous enthusiasm for the prosperity Ireland is currently experiencing by carefully discussing its economic past and some of the weaknesses in the current model that has led some economists to describe Ireland as a "Celtic tiger."

A number of economists have compared the remarkable growth Ireland is enjoying—mostly as a result of ties with the United States and the electronics industry—with that of certain Asian countries, such as Singapore. Noting that Inside the Celtic Tiger is "the first detailed analysis of the Celtic tiger phenomenon," Patrick McGovern explained in his Sociology assessment how O'Hearn shows that too much dependence on foreign investment, as Ireland now has, usually results in only short-term prosperity. Also, while there are some apt comparisons between Singapore and Ireland, the author points out that Singapore is experiencing growth rates between eight and nine percent, while Ireland's is only five percent. McGovern criticizes O'Hearn for suggesting that the solution for Ireland is more investment in local industry, because this strategy did not work for Ireland's beef industry. However, McGovern concluded that "O'Hearn's debunking of the myths associated with the Celtic tiger is a timely and convincing contribution."

O'Hearn expanded his arguments from Inside the Celtic Tiger when he wrote The Atlantic Economy.Here, the author discusses Ireland's economic history in more depth, showing the fall and rise of its fortunes as influenced by its cyclical economic dependency and independence from England and its agrarian economy. As the country has moved away from dependence onGreat Britain and agriculture and toward industrial exports for the United States and other countries, it has entered a new phase of economic success. However, as with his earlier book, O'Hearn emphasizes the weaknesses of this economic turnaround as Ireland becomes too reliant on transnational corporations. As Thomas D. Hall related in the American Journal of Sociology: "The Celtic tiger may prove to be toothless, since most of the new enterprises are in highly volatile economic industries and generate mainly low-wage employment." The critic concluded by praising the author for showing "how reincorporation and reperipheralization are inherent in cycles of hegemony. He also demonstrates how development, or its lack, is continually recreated in the interplay of global, regional, and local processes. These are important contributions to our understanding of development, social change, and globalization."

While still writing about Ireland, O'Hearn addresses a new topic with Nothing but an Unfinished Song: Bobby Sands, the Irish Hunger Striker Who Ignited a Generation,the story of a young Irish Republican Army supporter who became famous for dying during a prisonhunger strike. As a boy and young man, Bobby Sands experienced firsthand the rough treatment of Irish Catholics by the British, and soon joined the IRA cause. He participated in a number of robberies and other violent acts before he was imprisoned, and spent most of his life behind bars. Here, he read books on leftist politics and became fluent in Gaelic. He and other IRA members saw themselves as political prisoners and not criminals, and so they protested being treated like criminals in jail. This resulted in a two-monthhunger strike that caused Sands' death in 1981. This made him posthumously famous, though most people knew nothing about the man. O'Hearn's book seeks to rectify this by telling readers about Sands and his political cause in a work that Booklist contributor Vanessa Bush declared "a revealing look at the IRA politics and resistance tactics." A Publishers Weeklyreviewer concluded: "This extensive—and depressing—biography adds valuable insight into the political evolution of Irish nationalism."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Journal of Sociology, September, 2002, Thomas D. Hall, review of The Atlantic Economy: Britain, the U.S. and Ireland, p. 487.

Booklist, February 15, 2006, Vanessa Bush, review ofNothing but an Unfinished Song: Bobby Sands, the Irish Hunger Striker Who Ignited a Generation,p. 33.

Journal of Development Studies, February, 2000, Jeremy Gould, review of Critical Development Theory: Contributions to a New Paradigm, p. 175.

Kirkus Reviews, November 15, 2005, review of Nothing but an Unfinished Song, p. 1224.

Publishers Weekly, December 5, 2005, review of Nothing but an Unfinished Song, p. 44.

Sociology, May, 2000, Patrick McGovern, review ofInside the Celtic Tiger: The Irish Economy and the Asian Model, p. 361.

ONLINE

Queen's University, Belfast, School of Sociology and Social Policy Web site,http://www.qub.ac.uk/ssp/(July 13, 2006), career information on Denis O'Hearn.