Resumen de Interrogating the "Crisis-Reform" Hypothesis: A Case-Study of Poor Law Reform in Post-Famine Ireland
Declan Curran, Mounir Mahmalat
This paper explores the extent to which socio-economic developments in the aftermath of the Great Irish Famine (1845-1850) can be regarded as a direct response to the famine onslaught, as opposed to being part of the broader incremental socio-economic evolution of that era which may merely have been expedited by famine-era distress. Specifically, we analyse the reform of the Irish Poor Law in 1862 in order to assess the imprint of famine experiences on this process. A textual analysis is undertaken on the following documentary material referring to the famine conditions of 1845-50: (i) expert witness testimony provided to the Select Committee on Poor Relief (Ireland) 1861; (ii) parliamentary debates preceding the legislation; and (iii) contemporary commentary surrounding the Irish Poor Relief Act (Ireland) 1862. This analysis is then used to interrogate the “crisis-reform” hypothesis, which contends that economic crises induce policy reform. Our paper challenges this hypothesis, arguing that it does not adequately incorporate the persistence of economic and social institutional structures.
