Brendan O'Leary
University of Pennsylvania, Political Science, Faculty Member
- Brendan O'Leary is an Irish, European Union, and US citizen, and since 2003 the Lauder Professor of Political Scienc... moreBrendan O'Leary is an Irish, European Union, and US citizen, and since 2003 the Lauder Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He is both a political scientists and an intermittent constitutional advisor. He is the author, co-author, and co-editor of twenty eight books and collections, and the author or co-author of hundreds of articles or chapters in peer-reviewed journals, university presses, encyclopedia articles, and other forms of publication, including op-eds. His latest production is a three-volume study called A Treatise on Northern Ireland, published by Oxford University Press, which has been positively reviewed in the Dublin Review of Books, the Irish News, and the Irish Times. In April 2020 it received the James S. Donnelly Sr. best book prize in History and Social Science of the American Conference on Irish Studies. He is World Leading Researcher Visiting Professor of Political Science at Queen's University Belfast.edit
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At the start of 1959, when Sean Lemass became Ireland’s prime minister, Northern Ireland’s UUP looked fully in control, having quickly defeated an IRA campaign that had begun in 1956 and sputtered out in 1961. Yet just over a decade later... more
At the start of 1959, when Sean Lemass became Ireland’s prime minister, Northern Ireland’s UUP looked fully in control, having quickly defeated an IRA campaign that had begun in 1956 and sputtered out in 1961. Yet just over a decade later the UUP’s control collapsed under the pressure of a civil-rights movement and its consequences. How this unexpected set of events unfolded and led to renewed British direct rule is explained in this chapter. The consequences of the British welfare state are emphasized. Northern Irish Catholics demanding equal rights with British citizens proved to be the key that unwound the UUP’s system of control. The UK Labour government of 1964–70 proved more sympathetic to Northern Irish Catholics than its predecessors had been in 1945–51 for reasons that are explained in this chapter and the next. Paradoxically, improved relations between the Southern and Northern governments preceded the erosion of the UUP’s control of the North.
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There are strong arguments for Northern Ireland's members of parliament being elected by STV whatever the Jenkins Commission proposes for the rest of the United Kingdom.
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This chapter contrasts the colonial and “sectarianized peoples” interpretations of modern Irish history, defining and defending the former while noting that the latter frequently displays “observational equivalence” with the former.... more
This chapter contrasts the colonial and “sectarianized peoples” interpretations of modern Irish history, defining and defending the former while noting that the latter frequently displays “observational equivalence” with the former. Jürgen Osterhammel’s conception of colonialism is shown to be applicable and apposite, as are those of a range of thinkers from Machiavelli to Michael Hechter. A political rather than an economic or cultural conception of colonialism is defended. An overview of the influential “ancient-régime” reading of Irish history by Sean Connolly is shown to have significant limitations. The curious absence of decolonization from much Irish historiography is noted. The reason that matters is that it is important to date the end of colonization in the South and the North respectively and precisely.
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The concluding chapter critically reviews the role of European integration in improving British-Irish relations, and in the making of the Good Friday Agreement. Four major votes across Northern Ireland between 2016 and 2017 are surveyed,... more
The concluding chapter critically reviews the role of European integration in improving British-Irish relations, and in the making of the Good Friday Agreement. Four major votes across Northern Ireland between 2016 and 2017 are surveyed, paying particular attention to the 2016 referendum on EU membership. Predictions are made about the future of Northern Ireland and its union with Great Britain or its reunification with Ireland based on unfolding developments. Transformations South and North, political, social, and economic, are emphasized. The closure of the prospects of a second partition of Ulster is highlighted. Discussion about the possible breakdown, decay, or amendment of existing consociational provisions, and possible modes and modalities of Irish reunification are considered against three twilights that are highlighted, and sketched.
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The making of the Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA) of 1985 is examined in detail, and interpretations of its significance are assessed. Was the AIA simply a form of inter-governmentalism, or was it tacitly or unintentionally a project to... more
The making of the Anglo-Irish Agreement (AIA) of 1985 is examined in detail, and interpretations of its significance are assessed. Was the AIA simply a form of inter-governmentalism, or was it tacitly or unintentionally a project to incentivize unionists to favor power-sharing? That is, is it best interpreted as a coercive way of promoting consociation? The impact of the 1985 AIA is assessed across parties, movements, and paramilitaries, and in particular its impact on the administration of justice, and on social justice within Northern Ireland, is discussed. Its foundational role in making the Good Friday Agreement possible is also highlighted.
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Abstract This article updates the author's article which opens this issue, and responds to the other contributions. Composed over the winter of 2011–2012, the opening paper was commissioned for a private conference held in Europe. The... more
Abstract This article updates the author's article which opens this issue, and responds to the other contributions. Composed over the winter of 2011–2012, the opening paper was commissioned for a private conference held in Europe. The difficulties academics from Israel or Palestine (and elsewhere) experience in convening to discuss the subject matter explain why the conference was private. It was not officially conceived as a ‘track-two’ contribution to the possibilities of a peace initiative from the second Obama administration, or from the European Union, but it was intimated that such possibilities might shape the paper.
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O'Leary, Brendan. 2001. "Nationalism and Ethnicity: Research Agendas on Theories of Their Sources and Regulation." In Ethnopolitical Warfare: Causes, Consequences, and Possible Solutions,... more
O'Leary, Brendan. 2001. "Nationalism and Ethnicity: Research Agendas on Theories of Their Sources and Regulation." In Ethnopolitical Warfare: Causes, Consequences, and Possible Solutions, edited by Daniel Chirot and Martin E.P. Seligman, 37-48. Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association.
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This book had its origins in a conference titled ‘Beyond the Nation?’ The question mark was appropriate. Nations, as vehicles of popular sovereignty and as subjects of collective self-determination, are not about to be superseded by novel... more
This book had its origins in a conference titled ‘Beyond the Nation?’ The question mark was appropriate. Nations, as vehicles of popular sovereignty and as subjects of collective self-determination, are not about to be superseded by novel postnational formats — at least not everywhere, not even in most of Europe. The empirical picture that confronts a sober political scientist at the beginning of the twenty-first century sharply conflicts with the fantasies of liberal cosmopolitan globalization. Political theory should, perhaps, devote at least some of its focus to deep national political conflicts, rather than piously looking forward towards their utter transcendence. The number of nominal nation-states expanded throughout the twentieth century, though mostly in the aftermath of sudden shocks, such as the crushing defeat of one European and two Eurasian empires in 1917–18, or the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. There were apparent counter-tendencies in the growth of confederal and federal organizations, most famously the European Union. But most of these, including the EU, are multinational confederations or federations rather than truly supranational or postnational entities. The end of the formal European Empires in the South after 1960 was supposed to halt the growth of nation-states, but it has not.
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This chapter builds on the arguments presented in John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary, Policing Northern Ireland: Proposals for a New Start (Belfast: Blackstaff 1999), arguments that were widely seen as influencing the findings of the... more
This chapter builds on the arguments presented in John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary, Policing Northern Ireland: Proposals for a New Start (Belfast: Blackstaff 1999), arguments that were widely seen as influencing the findings of the Independent Commission on Policing (the Patten Commission). The chapter analyses the Commission's report and the controversy surrounding its implementation by Secretary of State Peter Mandleson. It discusses the relationship between the struggle over police reform and the stalemate in Northern Ireland's political institutions, and argues that the successful completion of policing reform is essential to the Agreement's consolidation.
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The chapter defends the Northern Ireland Agreement's consociational institutions. It notes that the Agreement also contains federal and confederal institutions covering all of Ireland and linking Ireland with Britain, and argues... more
The chapter defends the Northern Ireland Agreement's consociational institutions. It notes that the Agreement also contains federal and confederal institutions covering all of Ireland and linking Ireland with Britain, and argues that both the internal and external dimensions were necessary parts of a durable settlement given the identities and aspirations of nationalists and unionists. The chapter stresses, in contrast to positions taken by Arend Lijphart and Donald Horowitz, the advantages of the particular proportional electoral system used in Northern Ireland. It also points to the dangers that Britain's tradition of parliamentary sovereignty poses to stable agreements between Britain and Ireland. Northern Ireland, the author argues, could and should have become a federacy as well as having consociational governance.
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The return of direct rule to Northern Ireland in 1972 and its mechanisms and conduct are outlined in this chapter. Their impact upon the local political party system is treated at length, as are the first consociational initiatives... more
The return of direct rule to Northern Ireland in 1972 and its mechanisms and conduct are outlined in this chapter. Their impact upon the local political party system is treated at length, as are the first consociational initiatives pursued under Conservative and Labour governments in the UK. The failure of the first peace process is considered, as well as Britain’s counterinsurgency policies and their limits. Criminalization, Ulsterization, and Normalization were the policies begun under Callaghan’s government and continued by the Conservatives until they were broken by the republican hunger strikes. The new consociational initiatives after the hunger strikes are examined.
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This chapter emphasizes how the Second World War unexpectedly stabilized the system of control in Northern Ireland. In the late 1930s the Northern government, like that of Newfoundland, faced possible bankruptcy, and the UUP leadership... more
This chapter emphasizes how the Second World War unexpectedly stabilized the system of control in Northern Ireland. In the late 1930s the Northern government, like that of Newfoundland, faced possible bankruptcy, and the UUP leadership looked stale and challenged. At the same time, independent Ireland was showing evidence of consolidation of its sovereignty, economic development, and stability. The Second World War, and the eventual US leadership of the United Nations against the Axis powers, reversed the rolling out of these patterns. How and why Ulster Unionists benefited more than Irish nationalists from the Second World War is explained.
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This chapter explains how both the IRA and the DUP were fully incorporated into the 1998 Agreement, even if the former saw it as transitional, whereas the latter pretended it was not working within its provisions. The striking success of... more
This chapter explains how both the IRA and the DUP were fully incorporated into the 1998 Agreement, even if the former saw it as transitional, whereas the latter pretended it was not working within its provisions. The striking success of simply having a sustained period of cooperative power-sharing is celebrated, and a full comparison is made with the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973–4. The Rise and Fall of the House of Paisley is considered. Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness’s interactions with his DUP opposite numbers Peter Robinson and Arlene Foster are assessed. The turbulent implementation of the agreement between 2003 and 2015 is considered. Unresolved controversies over languages and flags and over assessing the conflict are evaluated.
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Classical typologies of polities often assumed that the rulers and the ruled are co-ethnics. They focused on whether rulers ruled in their own interests or in that of their subjects. Liberal thinkers, by contrast, focused on how to check... more
Classical typologies of polities often assumed that the rulers and the ruled are co-ethnics. They focused on whether rulers ruled in their own interests or in that of their subjects. Liberal thinkers, by contrast, focused on how to check or balance rulers, either though the separation of powers, or through representative democracy. Yet neither the separation of powers nor representative democracy necessarily prevents a political monopoly from being exercised by an ethnic group. The tyranny of an ethnic majority was not considered in early liberal thought. Northern Ireland under the hegemony of the Ulster Unionist Party after 1920 illustrated how the Westminster model of democracy can be exploited to secure an apparently permanent ethnic monopoly through the exercise of control. An account of the concept of control is developed in this chapter, and of its manifestation in both democratic and undemocratic political systems. The meanings of hegemony are elaborated before appropriate ap...
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The author argues there is no such thing as a "normal democracy", and that the decision made by the European Court of Human Rights in Sejdić-Finci case does not pay enough respect to consociational democracy as one of the... more
The author argues there is no such thing as a "normal democracy", and that the decision made by the European Court of Human Rights in Sejdić-Finci case does not pay enough respect to consociational democracy as one of the legitimate forms of democracy. As human rights have to be balanced against one another, they also have to be balanced against other values, including peace and stability. As the practical solution in the election of the three-person collective Presidency in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the author suggests three separate electoral colleges in the three territorial districts that would settle the tension between the politically viable power-sharing arrangements and the demand to respect human rights. The author concludes that more moral modesty is in place when foreign political advice in democratic constitutional design is issued for the divided societies.
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Sometimes the media can use terminology that obscures or even misrepresents the message that honest journalists are trying to explain. Brendan O'Leary and Khaled Salih highlight how using 'semi-autonomous' to describe the... more
Sometimes the media can use terminology that obscures or even misrepresents the message that honest journalists are trying to explain. Brendan O'Leary and Khaled Salih highlight how using 'semi-autonomous' to describe the constitutional powers of either Catalonia or Kurdistan may be unhelpful.
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Since the mid-1960s pluralism has been increasingly criticized by new-right thinkers who revive and modernize many of the classical ideas of liberalism, and use them to explain how democratic political systems can generate pathological... more
Since the mid-1960s pluralism has been increasingly criticized by new-right thinkers who revive and modernize many of the classical ideas of liberalism, and use them to explain how democratic political systems can generate pathological results. In some Western countries, such as the UK under the Thatcher governments or the USA under Reagan, these ideas almost became an orthodoxy powerful enough to displace pluralism as the conventional wisdom of academic and mass media analyses.
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Research Interests: Law, Political Science, Bosnian, Negotiation, Constitution, and 3 moreHonour, Convention, and Ratification
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LET US begin with a confident but falsifiable prediction. The 1997 Westminster election is likely to be the last of such elections in which the Unionist (with a capital'U') bloc wins an... more
LET US begin with a confident but falsifiable prediction. The 1997 Westminster election is likely to be the last of such elections in which the Unionist (with a capital'U') bloc wins an overall majority of the votes cast in Northern Ireland���even if there is no reform of the electoral system for the United Kingdom parliament. Our prediction is based on the results displayed in Table 1. They show that in three region-wide elections held in Northern Ireland within one year (May 1996-97) the average share of the vote of the Unionist bloc���the ...
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At a joint prime-ministerial summit on 28 February 1996, the British and Irish governments committed themselves to convening all-party and inter-governmental negotiations on the future of Northern Ireland on 10 June. The presence of... more
At a joint prime-ministerial summit on 28 February 1996, the British and Irish governments committed themselves to convening all-party and inter-governmental negotiations on the future of Northern Ireland on 10 June. The presence of political parties at the negotiations was to be decided by an election which John Major later declared, in a statement to the House of Commons, would be held on 30 May. As specified in the Northern Ireland (Entry to Negotiations, etc.) Act the election would determine parties' shares of delegates for a peace forum, and their rights to ...
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Research Interests: Political Economy, Political Science, Politics, Northern Irish Politics, Public Opinion Research, and 11 moreConsociationalism, Irish, Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland (Peace Process and Politics), Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland and the Troubles, Citation, Power Sharing, Qualified Majority Voting, Legislature, and concurrent majority
McGarry, John, and Brendan O'Leary, eds. 1990. The Future of Northern Ireland. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The book is out of print. Copyright retained by the editors and the several contributors
The book is out of print. Copyright retained by the editors and the several contributors
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O'Leary, Brendan. 1989. The Asiatic Mode of Production: Oriental Despotism, Historical Materialism and Indian History. Vol. Foreword by Ernest Gellner. Oxford and New York: Basil Blackwell. This is the first part of a photostat of a... more
O'Leary, Brendan. 1989. The Asiatic Mode of Production: Oriental Despotism, Historical Materialism and Indian History. Vol. Foreword by Ernest Gellner. Oxford and New York: Basil Blackwell.
This is the first part of a photostat of a book that is out of print. Copyright retained by the author.
This is the first part of a photostat of a book that is out of print. Copyright retained by the author.
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This is the second part of a photostat of this book, which is out of print.
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The Politics of Ethnic Conflict Regulation, edited by John McGarry and Brendan O'Leary, New York: Routledge.