Public Policy, Philanthropy and Peacebuilding in Northern Ireland

This book by Colin Knox and Padraic Quirk, former Country Director at The Atlantic Philanthropies, examines Atlantic’s role in helping to build peace and promote reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland is now referred to as a post-conflict society largely due to the absence of political violence and relatively stable political institutions. These are necessary but insufficient conditions for what Johan Galtung has described as ‘positive peace’, which requires a more fundamental review of the structural inequalities that contributed to the conflict in the first place.

Using detailed case studies, the authors illustrate the role played by voluntary and community sector groups, funded by Atlantic, in influencing the public policy agenda and securing long term systemic changes.

The authors also critique the work of Atlantic as a ‘pay to play’ organization whose original mission moved from funding the higher education sector on the island of Ireland to become a key foundation with a significant role in the peace process.

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• “In this well-researched book, Knox and Quirk trace the influence of a key external stakeholder, Atlantic Philanthropies, on peace building in Northern Ireland. The role played by this U.S.-based philanthropic organization has helped the devolved government in Northern Ireland embed micro-level initiatives in education, restorative justice, human rights and shared services.”
  – John McGarry, Professor of Political Studies and Canada Research Chair in Nationalism and Democracy, Queen’s University, Canada
• “Knox and Quirk successfully combine academic disciplines of public policy, peacebuilding and philanthropic studies into a fascinating account of how Northern Ireland’s peace process has been strengthened through societal changes. This study deals with some of the most intractable problems in post-conflict Northern Ireland, offering lessons for other countries.”
  – Professor Madhav Joshi, Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame, USA
• “Knox and Quirk offer a unique and detailed study of the role played by voluntary and community sector organisations in the course of the peace process in Northern Ireland. This book captures the significant and largely undocumented contribution that the third sector played in supporting wider political developments with the aim of building equality and social justice.”
  – Dr Avila Kilmurray, Director, Policy & Strategy, Global Fund for Community Foundations, Johannesburg and Belfast

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About the Authors

Colin Knox is Professor of Comparative Public Policy at Ulster University, UK. He is the co-author (with Professor Vani Borooah) of The Economics of Schooling in a Divided Society: The Case for Shared Education (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015). Knox is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS) and Fellow of the Higher Education Teaching Academy (FHEA).

Dr Padraic Quirk was the Country Director for The Atlantic Philanthropies in Northern Ireland until March 2015. He is now Deputy Director of the Social Change Initiative in Belfast.

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Learn More

• Preview & buy the book at Palgrave Macmillan