ABSTRACT
So far, we have examined two explanations of Irish poverty which were central to contemporary thought on the subject. Neither the Malthusian nor the land tenure hypothesis, seem to go a long way in explaining the economic failures of the Irish economy. In this chapter I take up another theme which figures prominently in nineteenth-century thought, namely, the violence and lawlessness which characterized much of nineteenth-century Irish rural life, both before and after the famine. The approach utilized in this chapter takes a somewhat roundabout way to the subject of rural unrest and conflict between classes. Before we can conclude anything about the impact of these phenomena on Irish economic development, we must first try to understand their economic background in a more abstract conceptual framework.
