ABSTRACT
The role of the state has returned to development studies with a vengeance over the past two decades. Most accounts of both developmental success and failure rest with the structures, policies, histories, organization, autonomy, embeddedness, or technocratic know-how of the state apparatus as well as its relationship with societal actors. This chapter considers the role of the state and key societal actors in the Irish tourism sector in order to challenge and refine several themes found commonly in the neo-statist literature. Many explanations of Irish development failures prior to the onset of the Celtic Tiger focus on state clientelism, ineptitude and poor policy choices. By actively pursing foreign capital into leading sectors, holding wage demands down and maintaining extremely low corporate tax rates, the state in Ireland has increasingly taken a very pro-business stand. During the time that tourism has grown rapidly in Ireland, institutions have been altered significantly and state-society relations have also been transformed.
