The Duck of Minerva

Riverdance your way through through the Irish Bailout in two minutes: Taiwan animation style!

Various and Sundry

by Stephanie Carvin

30 November 2010, 1028 EST

From NMA – those who brought you the Tiger Woods Video, and the USA-China Currency Crisis Rap Battle video comes the Ireland Bailout video (which I can’t make fit in the frame! Edit: Fixed!)

As an IR blogger with an interest in econ, you might be interested in this animated take on Ireland’s current state of financial distress. I can’t vouch that a leprechaun really charged into Biffo’s office as he was taking in a Guiness, but we tried our hardest to condense the situation in less than two minutes.

Please watch it if only for the signs the protesters are holding at the end.

Despite the email, I don’t pride myself on a knowledge of economic issues. (My bank account can attest to this. Pension-shmention, I want shoes!) However, as this is the internet, I will add my uninformed £0.02.

While I can’t resist the Riverdancing corporate investors, I think the video may end up too pessimistically. Ireland is in a lot of trouble to be sure, but one has the sense now that at least all of the dirt is on the table. This is unlike Greece, for example, where nobody seems to actually know what’s going on or where the problems actually end. (Michael Lewis’ take on this in Vanity Fair is amazing.) One can believe (or hope) that there won’t be many more nasty surprises.

So while I’m not trying to downplay the setback that this bailout represents, I remain slightly optimistic in that I believe that there is now at least a foundation from where Ireland can make a comeback (albeit at a tough price.) It has a well educated and entrepreneurial population. It seems willing to do whatever it takes. And it has certainly seen worse than this.

As for me, I’m just going to keep compiling these videos until I have enough to use them to replace my first year lectures.

Stephanie Carvin is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. Her research interests are in the area of international law, security, terrorism and technology. Currently, she is teaching in the areas of critical infrastructure protection, technology and warfare and foreign policy.

Stephanie holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and published her thesis as Prisoners of America’s Wars: From the Early Republic to Guantanamo (Columbia/Hurst, 2010). Her most recent book is Science, Law, Liberalism and the American Way of Warfare: The Quest for Humanity in Conflict” (Cambridge, 2015) co-authored with Michael J. Williams. In 2009 Carvin was a Visiting Scholar at George Washington University Law School and worked as a consultant to the US Department of Defense Law of War Working Group. From 2012-2015, she was an analyst with the Government of Canada focusing on national security issues.
Stacie Goddard

Stephanie Carvin is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. Her research interests are in the area of international law, security, terrorism and technology. Currently, she is teaching in the areas of critical infrastructure protection, technology and warfare and foreign policy.

Stephanie holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and published her thesis as Prisoners of America’s Wars: From the Early Republic to Guantanamo (Columbia/Hurst, 2010). Her most recent book is Science, Law, Liberalism and the American Way of Warfare: The Quest for Humanity in Conflict” (Cambridge, 2015) co-authored with Michael J. Williams. In 2009 Carvin was a Visiting Scholar at George Washington University Law School and worked as a consultant to the US Department of Defense Law of War Working Group. From 2012-2015, she was an analyst with the Government of Canada focusing on national security issues.
Stacie Goddard

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