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This book presents the reflections of six distinguished scholars of Irish birth or descent - Philip Pettit, Roy Foster, Clair Wills, Kevin Hjortshøj ORourke, Louise Richardson and Brendan OLeary - who delivered plenary papers at a national commemorative conference in NUI Galway in November 2016. They considered the conference themes from a variety of perspectives including: the doctrines of classical republicanism and liberalism; the historical contextualization of the major changes over the last century; the economic fortunes, failures and achievements of the new independent state; the cultural representation and interpretation of our post-independence experience; the role of current and future university education in Ireland; and the major challenges Ireland is now facing in a rapidly changing and globalized world.