Book review: new beginnings: constitutionalism and democracy in modern Ireland

New Beginnings covers Irish constitutional development from Home Rule to the Good Friday Agreement, focusing on turning points where radical constitutional change was discussed, attempted, or implemented. Taking the relationship between constitutionalism and democracy as its key issue, it asks why Irish politicians have seen constitutions as ways of making democracy more manageable, rather than of furthering democracy. Christine Bell finds that Bill Kissane’s work also reveals a hidden gender history to the constitutional negotiations.