Background
He was born in Belfast and grew up in Ballymena, County Antrim.
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John McGarry
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Many of these books were co-authored with Brendan O"Leary, whom McGarry met when they both attended Saint MacNissi’s College.
Career
He is the author of numerous influential books about ethnic conflict and, in particular, the Northern Ireland conflict. McGarry and O"Leary"s Policing Northern Ireland: Proposals for a New Start (Blackstaff Press, 1999) had a significant influence on the work of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland. He currently sits on the advisory council of the Centre for the Study of Democracy and worked as a senior advisor on power-sharing to the United Nations in 2008-2009.
In addition to teaching, he is currently the senior advisor on governance to the United Nations-led negotiations in Cyprus.
His contribution and work were recognized in 2010 when he was invested into the Royal Society of Canada. In 2013, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal, and the Killam Prize.
The latter is Canada"s most prestigious research prize. In 2015, his research on conflict resolution was recognized by the Council of Ontario Universities (COU) as one of the top 50 examples of "game-changing" research conducted in Ontario during the past 100 years.
McGarry and Brendan O"Leary have long backed consociationalism (power-sharing) as a method of conflict management and are widely considered to be the two leading theorists working in this field
Arend Lijphart has been a significant influence on their work. In 2009, a book entitled Consociational Theory: McGarry and O"Leary and the Northern Ireland Conflict was published, edited by Rupert Taylor.
Achievements
Politics
He is currently Professor of Political Studies and Canada Research Chair in Nationalism and Democracy at Queen"s University in Kingston, Ontario.
