John McGarry FRSC
Professor of Political Studies
Canada Research Chair in Nationalism and Democracy (from July 2002)

John McGarry is Professor of Political Studies and Canada Research Chair in Nationalism and Democracy in the Department of Political Studies (from July 2002). Before that, he was Professor of Political Science at the University of Waterloo (1999-2002) and at the University of Western Ontario, King's College (1989-99). He is a graduate of Trinity College, Dublin (1979), and of the University of Western Ontario (1987). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2010. McGarry's academic work is concerned with the design of political institutions, and of police forces, in divided societies. He is particularly interested in power-sharing institutions, and in federalism. He has co-authored, co-edited and edited twelve books on these subjects, including four with Oxford University Press (UK). He has also authored and co-authored over 40 refereed articles and book chapters. McGarry's work has had an important public policy dimension and impact. He has appeared as an expert witness before the U.S. Congress; and worked with a number of governments, including the Kurdistan Regional Government (Iraq) and the Republic of Moldova. His work on policing reform in Northern Ireland was singled out by the press as crucially influencing the Report of the Independent Commission on Policing Reform (the Patten Commission), which reported in 1999. In 2008-09, McGarry served for fifteen months as "Senior Advisor on Power-Sharing" to the United Nations (Standby Team, Mediation Support Unit). He was the first person appointed to this position. McGarry is currently an advisor on governance to the UN-led negotiations in Cyprus, and has visited the island in this capacity a total of nine times. His research interests include ethnic and national conflict; state responses to ethnic and national diversity; consociationalism/power-sharing; federalism; integrationism; domination of minorities (control); asymmetrical federalism; European integration and the protection of minorities; politics of Iraq; politics of Northern Ireland; electoral systems in divided societies; policing divided societies.