Contributors

John Coakley is a professor and Head of the School of Politics and International Relations at University College Dublin. He has published extensively on Irish politics, comparative politics and nationalism, and has recently been contributing editor or co-editor of Crossing the border: new relationships between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (Irish Academic Press, 2007), Renovation or revolution? New territorial politics in Ireland and the United Kingdom (UCD Press, 2005), From political violence to negotiated settlement: the winding path to peace in twentieth-century Ireland (UCD Press, 2004) and The territorial management of ethnic conflict (2nd ed., Frank Cass, 2003).

Neil Collins is professor and head of the Department of Government at UCC. His current research interests are in political corruption, clientelism and e-politics. In 2007, he co-wrote Modernising Irish Government – The Politics of Administrative Reform with Terry Cradden and Patrick Butler. He was elected to the Academy of Social Science in 2009.

Michael Gallagher is Professor of Comparative Politics in the Department of Political Science, Trinity College, University of Dublin. His research interests include electoral systems and political parties. He is co-author of Representative Government in Modern Europe, 4th ed (New York, 2006) and Days of Blue Loyalty: the Politics of Membership of the Fine Gael Party (Dublin, 2002), editor of Irish Elections 1948–77: results and analysis (Abingdon, 2009), and co-editor of The Politics of Electoral Systems (Oxford, 2008), How Ireland Voted 2007 (Basingstoke, 2008), The Referendum Experience in Europe (Basingstoke, 1996) and Candidate Selection in Comparative Perspective (London, 1988).

Yvonne Galligan is professor of comparative politics and director of the Centre for Advancement of Women in Politics at Queens University Belfast. She is author of a wide variety of articles on comparative gender politics and policy and the Irish political system. Her publications include Women and Politics in Contemporary Ireland (Pinter, 1998), Gender Politics and Democracy in post-socialist Europe (co-author, Opladen,2007), Contesting Politics: Women in Ireland, North and South (co-editor, Boulder, CO, 1999) and Sharing Power: Women, Parliament, Democracy (co-editor, Aldershot, 2006).

Lee Komito is a Senior Lecturer in Library and Information Studies at University College Dublin. He is author of The Information Revolution and Ireland: prospects and challenges. He publishes on clientelism; social and political impact of new information technologies; governance and participation; and social networking technologies and community. He is currently researching the impact of new social media on migration, integration and identity.

Brigid Laffan PhD took office as the Principal of the College of Human Sciences, University College Dublin in September 2004. In 1991, Professor Laffan was appointed as Jean Monnet Professor of European Politics in the Department of Politics, UCD. She was the founding Director of the Dublin European Institute UCD in 1999. In March 2004, she was elected as a member of the Royal Irish Academy. She is a member of the Research Council of the European University (EUI) Florence, the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) and the Irish Government’s High Level Asia Strategy Group. Professor Laffan is author of Integration and Co-operation in Europe (1992), The Finances of the Union (1997) and co-author of Europe’s Experimental Union (2000), and Ireland and the European Union (2008). She has published numerous articles in the Journal of Common Market Studies and the European Journal of Public Policy. Professor Laffan co-ordinated a six-country cross national research project Organising for Enlargement (2001–04), financed by the EU Commission’s Fifth Framework Programme and part of an integrated research project on New Governance in Europe.

Michael Marsh is Professor of Comparative Political Behaviour and Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Trinity College, University of Dublin. He is author of a wide variety of articles on parties and electoral behaviour. He has co-edited How Ireland Voted 1997 (Boulder, 1999), How Ireland Voted 2002 (Basingstoke, 2003) and How Ireland Voted 2007 (Basingstoke, 2007), is co-author of The Irish voter: The nature of electoral competition in the Republic of Ireland (Manchester, 2008) and was a director of the 2002-2007 Irish election study.

Shane Martin is Lecturer in Comparative Politics at Dublin City University. He currently serves as Co-Convenor of the ECPR Standing Group on Parliaments. His research focuses on representation and legislative organisation. Recent published research has focused on parliamentary party unity and constituency-legislator congruence. He is currently researching the role of political institutions in monitoring multiparty government.

Gary Murphy is Associate Professor of Government in the School of Law and Government at DCU, where he is also the University's Dean of Graduate Studies. He has published widely on Irish politics, notably in the area of interest group behaviour and is currently interested in the regulation of lobbying. Recent publications include In Search of the Promised Land: politics in postwar Ireland (Mercier Press, 2009) and Regulating Lobbying: A Global Comparison (Manchester University Press, 2009) with Raj Chari and John Hogan.

Eoin O’Malley is a lecturer at the School of Law and Government in Dublin City University. His main research interest is political power in and of government in parliamentary systems. His research has appeared in journals such as Government and Opposition, International Journal of Political Science and West European Politics. He is currently co-editor of Irish Political Studies.

Aodh Quinlivan is a lecturer in politics in the Department of Government at UCC, and he worked earlier in Cork County Council. He is a specialist in local government studies and in reform of the public sector. His recent book publications include: Philip Monahan – A Man Apart (2006); All Politics is Local – A Guide to Local Elections in Ireland (2009, with Liam Weeks) and Innovation and Best Practice in Irish Local Government (2009, with Emmanuelle Schön-Quinlivan).

Richard Sinnott is Director of the Public Opinion and Political Behaviour Research Programme at the Institute for the Study of Social Change, University College Dublin. His publications include Irish Voters Decide: Voting Behaviour in Elections and Referendums since 1918 (1995), People and Parliament in the European Union: Participation, Democracy and Legitimacy (co-author with Jean Blondel and Palle Svensson) (1998), and Public Opinion and Internationalized Governance, (co-editor with Oskar Niedermayer) (1995) and a wide range of articles on Irish and European public opinion and political behaviour. He is co-director (with Michael Marsh) of the 2002 Irish National Election Study.

Ben Tonra is Jean Monnet Professor of European Foreign, Security and Defence Policy at University College Dublin (UCD) where he is also Associate Professor of International Relations at the UCD School of Politics and International Relations. His most recent major publication is Global Citizen, European Republic: Irish Foreign Policy in Transition (Manchester University Press, 2007).

Liam Weeks (PhD, Trinity College Dublin, 2008) is a lecturer in politics in the Department of Government, University College Cork.