It's IntLawGrrls' great pleasure today to welcome Gráinne de Búrca (left) as a guest blogger.Gráinne has been Professor of Law at Fordham Law School since 2006. Before that she was Professor of European Union Law from 1998 to 2005 at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and Lecturer in Law from 1990 to 1998 at Oxford University, England. She has been a Visiting Professor at the law schools of New York University, Columbia, and Harvard.
Gráinne's field of expertise is European Union law, with particular focus on constitutional issues related to European integration, on European human rights law, and on transnational governance. She is the co-editor of the book series Oxford Studies in European Law and the co-author of the textbook EU Law (Oxford University Press 4th ed., 2007).
In her guest post below, Gráinne discusses challenges to European integration by reference to current events and her paper, The Lisbon Treaty No-Vote: An Irish Problem or a European Problem?
Had not Grace O'Malley (in Irish, Gráinne Ni Mháille) not been the very 1st of IntLawGrrls' foremothers, Gráinne would have dedicated her post to that 16th century pirate and transnational nonstate actor. As it is, she's chosen to honor Eva Gore-Booth (below right). Born in County Sligo, Ireland, in 1870, Gore-Booth was a writer-activist involved both in "the Celtic revival that swept over her homeland at the turn of the twentieth century" and the political ferment of 
the day. (photo credit) Her "poetry, especially such later works as The One and the Many and The Egyptian Pillar," is said to "include themes of social change and sexual liberation." Equally important were her political writings and actions: working with peers like Alice Stopford Green and Esther Roper, Gore-Booth was a pacifist, trade union leader, and equal rights agitator, "one of the first female suffragists to advocate extending the vote to both female property owners and women in the working class." She died from cancer in London in 1926.
the day. (photo credit) Her "poetry, especially such later works as The One and the Many and The Egyptian Pillar," is said to "include themes of social change and sexual liberation." Equally important were her political writings and actions: working with peers like Alice Stopford Green and Esther Roper, Gore-Booth was a pacifist, trade union leader, and equal rights agitator, "one of the first female suffragists to advocate extending the vote to both female property owners and women in the working class." She died from cancer in London in 1926.Today Gore-Booth joins other Irish-born women -- not only Grace O'Malley, but also Gore-Booth's elder sister, Constance Markievicz, as well as Mary Harris "Mother" Jones -- on the list of IntLawGrrls' transnational foremothers, just below the "visiting from ..." map at right.
Heartfelt welcome!
