Comments on: Small country – big job

By: Gawain

Gawain — Fri, 19 Dec 2003 16:58:51 +0000

I suppose the Commonwealth is one multilateral organisation that Ireland has not great desire to join, and NATO, but these are hiosrtorical anomalys I’m sure. Doe syou hypothesis also go for the President’s of Commission, I rather think not – Prodi notwithstanding who has been an unalloyed chump – I would suggest that the bog country Presidents have been on the whole better than there small country counterparts. No grand theory as to why as of yet but I will be working on it.

By: Maria

Maria — Fri, 19 Dec 2003 09:49:19 +0000

Ok, ok, Haughey is a very notable and unpleasant exception. Who I can’t believe I didn’t think of… (cue embarrassed shuffle) De Valera had a touch of the high-calling, high-office too, though I believe his manners were just fine. How about we say, then, leaders of small countries, with the exception of some Fianna Fail taoisigh, tend to be less rude and up themselves? Now would that be an easier hypothesis to test? As to BIFFO - I dunno, but I think it’s more BC’s appearance than anything else that gave rise to that term. (Though it is a goldie. For the uninitiated, BIFFO was the epithet given to Ireland’s minister for foreign affairs, and it stands for Big Ignorant F&cker From Offaly.) But I’ve heard good things about him from across the parties in the last couple of years.

By: Kieran Healy

Kieran Healy — Thu, 18 Dec 2003 20:28:46 +0000

Brian Cowen, who is widely acknowledged to be very smart and very astute Which is why he is widely known as BIFFO. Or maybe his stature has grown since I kept up with news about him. :)

By: Katherine

Katherine — Thu, 18 Dec 2003 19:46:55 +0000

“Small country leaders are simply unable to become so removed from the reality of every day life, and the expectation of simple good manners, because in small countries it’s much harder to insulate yourself in this way.”. People make essentially the same argument about how small U.S. states are better governed than big ones, and why it’s a good thing that Iowa and New Hampshire have a disproportianately large role in picking the presidential nominee. Based on California and New York state politics it makes some sense, but I don’t have enough experience (i.e., any) living in really small states to know for sure. Their senators seem just as bad as ours, though.

By: dsquared

dsquared — Thu, 18 Dec 2003 19:32:36 +0000

One good way to test it would be to give the Taoiseach of such a country a never-ending stream of bribes from a supermarket operator and see if it went to his head or not …

By: Ted Barlow

Ted Barlow — Thu, 18 Dec 2003 19:17:11 +0000

By: dsquared

dsquared — Thu, 18 Dec 2003 18:49:02 +0000

Small country leaders are simply unable to become so removed from the reality of every day life, and the expectation of simple good manners, because in small countries it’s much harder to insulate yourself in this way. (fewer degrees of separation, less of the lavish trappings of power) cough Haughey! Haughey! cough Haughey! sorry, got a nasty haugheying cough there.

By: phil

phil — Thu, 18 Dec 2003 16:10:32 +0000

Who went ahead and declared the Irish white?

By: John Isbell

John Isbell — Thu, 18 Dec 2003 14:57:20 +0000

Great post. “It helps you to keep clicking through the agenda when you haven’t already annoyed everyone in the room by simply turning up and clearing your throat.” Amen. A problem permanently facing the England rugby team. Wales? France? Australia?