Faculty Directory--Sean McGraw

Sean McGraw, C.S.C.,
Assistant Professor, Political Science

Degrees
B.A., 1992, University of Notre Dame;
M.Sc., 1993, London School of Economics and Political Science;
M.Div., 2000, University of Notre Dame;
Ph.D., 2009, Harvard University.

McGraw has recently completed a book manuscript, Democracy’s Choices: Irish Political Parties and the Constraining of the Political Arena, which explores the ways in which Ireland’s established parties have employed multiple strategies along several dimensions to preserve their longer-term electoral predominance during a period of unprecedented economic and social change. These party strategies include the institutional displacement of potentially contentious issues, the absorption and avoidance of issues along the ideological dimension, and organizational adaptation at the national and local levels. Somewhat paradoxically, centralization, professionalization, and other attendant modernizing political trends have reinforced the traditional character of Irish party politics. Rather than rationalizing patterns of party competition, these trends have deepened the clientelism, personalism, and local character of Irish politics.  His other research examines the relationship between civil society and social capital, as well as the role of religion within this debate.