Brendan O’Leary is Lauder Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania and Honorary Professor of Political Science at Queen’s University, Belfast. He is both a Southerner (born in Cork) and a Northerner (schooled in counties Antrim and Down). He is a graduate of Oxford University and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Professor O’Leary has been deeply engaged in conflict resolution in Ireland for nearly four decades, including over a decade advising the British Labour Party in the run-up to the Good Friday Agreement; advising an influential group of Irish-Americans led by Congressman Bruce Morrison through the 1990s; and writing advisory memoranda for the Irish government. He has advised on national and ethnic conflicts in a number of African and Asian countries and has worked for the UK’s International Department of Development and for the European Union. He was the second Senior Advisor on Power-Sharing in the Mediation Unit of the United Nations. Making Sense of a United Ireland is Professor O’Leary’s thirtieth book.