Dr Iain Atack
Assistant Professor in International Peace Studies and Director of Research
Iain Atack is Coordinator of the M.Phil. programme in International Peace Studies. He has a B.A. in philosophy and an M. Phil. in peace studies from Trinity College Dublin and an M.A. in philosophy from the University of Toronto. He obtained his D.Phil. from the University of Ulster for a thesis on Contingent Pacifism and Moral Pluralism. His book The Ethics of Peace and War: From State Security to World Community was published by Edinburgh University Press in 2005 as part of its series on World Ethics. He has published articles on topics ranging from nonviolence and pacifism to development and peacebuilding. His research interests include the ethics and politics of nonviolent action and the dynamics of peacebuilding. He is currently writing a book on Nonviolence in Political Theory.
Dr Atack teaches modules on the Politics of Peace and Conflict, Conflict Resolution and Nonviolence, and Armed Conflict, Peacebuilding and Development. His current PhD students are working on a wide variety of topics including: arts-based peacebuilding, the shadow economy in post-conflict Sierra Leone, the role of narrative in customary dispute resolution in southwestern Ethiopia, indigenous models of conflict resolution in the West Bank, the role of Palestinian civil society groups in promoting peace, NEPAD and the “liberal peace” in Africa, and feminist pragmatism. Previous students have completed PhDs on: the role of the Baptist Church in peacemaking in Nagaland, nonviolent responses to militarised non-state networks such as Al Qaeda, media framing during the peace process in Sri Lanka, local capacities for peace among pastoralist communities in Kenya, and academic boycotts as a form of nonviolent action.
He has worked for a number of peace and development NGOs in Canada, Ireland and Sri Lanka, including Quaker Peace and Service, Peace Brigades International and Canadian Friends Service Committee. He is a member of the board of Action from Ireland (Afri) and the Irish Forum for Peace in Sri Lanka (IFPSL). The IFPSL organised the People’s Tribunal on Sri Lanka in January 2010, hosted by the ISE and Trinity College Dublin.
Areas of expertise
Peacebuilding and conflict prevention, the ethics and politics of nonviolence, Sri Lanka, comparative peace processes, NGOs in development
Modules taught
The Politics of Development, Conflict Resolution and Nonviolence, The Politics of Peace and Conflict
Education
Ph.D. University of Ulster
M.Phil. Trinity College Dublin (Irish School of Ecumenics, Peace Studies)
M.A. University of Toronto
B.A. Trinity College Dublin
Contact details
Email: atacki@tcd.ie
Direct Tel: +353 (0) 1 206 0350
General Tel: +353 (0) 1 260 1144, ext. 110
Fax: +353 (0) 1 260 1158
Select publications
- 2012, Nonviolence in Political Theory, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh.
- ‘Nonviolent Political Action and the Limits of Consent,’ Theoria, pp. 87-107, 2006
- The Ethics of Peace and War, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005
- ‘Peacebuilding as conflict management or political engineering,’ Trocaire Development Review, p. 17-32, 2004
- ‘The Ethics of intervention and the limits of state sovereignty,’ Search, 26(2): p. 79-84, 2003