Brendan O'Leary

It is an academic, personal and political honour to give the ninth John Whyte
memorial lecture.^* It is an academic honour because John Whyte was the most
dispassionate analyst of our conflict — and so is a hard act to follow. Interpreting
Northern Ireland still conveys his marvellous gifts of clarity and concision in
exposition. It is a personal honour because, together with Ernest Gellner, he was
the mentor who had the greatest influence on me as a young lecturer. Lastly, it is
a political honour. John Whyte worried whether social scientific research on
Northern Ireland was worthwhile. Nevertheless, he contributed extensively to
public deliberation in defiance of his occasional despair on this matter. He
would have been pleased at the extent to which social science, including politi-
cal science, can be discerned in the making and nature of the Agreement.

The Agreement of 10 April 1998, ratified in referenda in both parts of
Ireland on 22 May 1998, is a major achievement, both for its negotiators and

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