Abstract

Instead of asking how globalization can help us under- stand Ireland today, this article starts from the premise that Ireland may be useful for an understanding of globalization. Always at a crossroads culturally and through its huge migration overseas, con-temporary Ireland is seen as the epitome of a globalization success story. The article examines the constant (relcreation of Irish identity and its complex (re)constitution in the era of globalization. It con-cludes that if an Ireland did not already exist, globalization theory would have to invent it.