Welcome
This site has been constructed as an on line resource for the books 'The People's Peace Process in Northern Ireland' published in 2002 and 'The People's Peace' published in 2012. It is available to provide up to date information on the latest peace polls from around the world, copies of questionnaires and statistical reports as downloads and a forum for discussion of contemporary issues through the Peace Polls Blog. Other sections now include the application of public diplomacy to support negotiations and detailed standards of best practice for using peace polls to resolve deadly conflicts.
The People's Peace Process in Northern Ireland
Review from Senator George J. Mitchell:I recommend this book to all those involved with peace making and peace building, political negotiations and public opinion polls, as well as those with a particular interest in Northern Ireland. Dr Irwin worked closely with the Northern Ireland political parties during the final critical years of the Stormont Talks and my Review and I am persuaded that the unique approach he developed of running public opinion polls in co-operation with party negotiators contributed significantly to the successful outcome of our efforts. It is of vital importance that all the lessons of the Northern Ireland peace process are placed at the disposal of the international community and this enterprise should certainly include the new methodologies developed by Dr Irwin. They are reviewed in detail in his book so that they can be replicated, along with copies of all the published reports and a commentary on their political context. These examples, together with their analysis, should provide any would-be practitioner with all the materials that they may need to undertake their own series of peace polls in support of political processes aimed at the resolution of conflicts elsewhere
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First published as a hardback it is now available as a paperback.
The People's Peace (preface and synopsis available)
'Pax populi, Pax Dei'
How Peace Polls are Democratizing The Peace Making Process
The people made peace in Northern Ireland. After 30 years of failure the peace process there has been a great success. Dr. Irwin's contribution to that achievement was to work with the parties on a program of independent public opinion research and public diplomacy that allowed the people to be consulted and brought into the process at each critical stage of the negotiations. He has spent the past ten years applying those lessons in the Balkans, Kashmir, Sri Lanka, the West and Muslim World and 'War on Terror', Israel and Palestine, Darfur Sudan and the Arab Spring. In all the cases where peace polling has been used it has made a positive contribution to peace building and peace making but the ultimate goal of peace, all too frequently, has not been achieved. This book explains why and how such failures might now be turned into success.
It is available as a Kindle eBook and as a paperback.
Links to other sites that set standards and report public opinion around the world:
World Association of Public Opinion Research (WAPOR)
Gilani Research Foundation Gallopedia
Department of Politics, University of Liverpool, UK,