John McGarry B.A. (Trinity College, Dublin); Ph.D. (Western Ontario)
Professor of Political Studies; Canada Research Chair in Nationalism and Democracy

John McGarry is Professor of Political Studies and Canada Research Chair in Nationalism and Democracy in the Dept. of Political Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada (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).

McGarry’s academic work is mainly concerned with the design of political institutions in divided political systems.  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, conducted with Brendan O’Leary, 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, he was appointed as "Senior Advisor on Power-Sharing" to the United Nations (Standby Team, Mediation Support Unit).

He has been a regular contributor to public media, in Ireland, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.  He has written op-ed pages for several newspapers, including the Globe and Mail, and has also appeared on CBC TV, CBC Radio, National Public Radio, the BBC,  and TVO.