Abstract
The expansion of the state in advanced industrial societies since 1945 has stimulated studies of the determinants of public sector growth, the nature of state intervention and the capacity for the state to act in a quasi‐autonomous way. The last also provides a means for distinguishing between alternative models of state action. In this article the issues of state expansion and state autonomy are used as the basis for examining the growth of the public sector and shifting activities of the state in Ireland since 1950. It is argued that a state‐centred model best accounts for the behaviour of the Irish state.

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