{"product_id":"9780717163595","title":"Preventing the Future: Why was Ireland so poor for so long?","description":"\u003cp\u003eBetween the years of the mid-thirties through to 1960, independent Ireland suffered from economic stagnation, and also went through a period of intense cultural and psychological repression. While external circumstances account for much of the stagnation – especially the depression of the thirties and the Second World War – \u003ci\u003ePreventing the Future\u003c\/i\u003e argues that the situation was aggravated by internal circumstances.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe key domestic factor was the failure to extend higher and technical education and training to larger sections of the population. This derived from political stalemates in a small country which derived in turn from the power of the Catholic Church, the strength of the small-farm community, the ideological wish to preserve an older society and, later, gerontocratic tendencies in the political elites and in society as a whole.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile economic growth did accelerate after 1960, the political stand-off over mass education resulted in large numbers of young people being denied preparation for life in the modern world and, arguably, denied Ireland a sufficient supply of trained labour and educated citizens.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIreland's Celtic Tiger of the nineties was in great part driven by a new and highly educated and technically trained workforce. The political stalemates of the forties and fifties delayed the initial, incomplete take-off until the sixties and resulted in the Tiger arriving nearly a generation later than it might have.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gill Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47125515010288,"sku":"9780717163595","price":5.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780717163595_p0.jpg?v=1763630903","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780717163595","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}