Alan Whysall
Former senior civil servant in the Northern Ireland Office and Constitution Unit Senior Research Associate
Honorary Senior Research Associate
Email: awhysall@gmail.com or a.whysall@ucl.ac.uk
Alan Whysall is an Honorary Senior Research Associate at the Constitution Unit. He was previously a senior civil servant in the Northern Ireland Office, where he worked for many years on the Northern Ireland peace process.
Between 2019 and 2021, he was a member of the Unit’s Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland. More recently, Alan has led the Unit’s project on Northern Ireland’s Political Future.
Publications
- Improving Government in Northern Ireland: Towards a Programme for Reform (May 2026)
- Northern Ireland: Challenges for the next Westminster Government (June 2024)
- The Agreement at 25: A Time for Constitutional Change in Northern Ireland? (April 2023)
- Northern Ireland’s Political Future: Challenges After the Assembly Elections: A Discussion Paper (May 2022)
- A Northern Ireland Border Poll (March 2019)
- ‘Northern Ireland Politics: Do we have a fresh start?’ (Lecture given at Ulster University, 15 February 2016)
Blog posts:
- Improving government in Northern Ireland: towards a programme for reform (May 2026)
- Reform of Northern Ireland’s governing institutions: new report on options (March 2025)
- Northern Ireland: challenges for the next Westminster government (June 2024)
- Devolution returns to Northern Ireland (February 2024)
- Northern Ireland’s political institutions: time for change? (December 2023)
- Why the UK government must take a different approach to restoring devolution in Northern Ireland (September 2023)
- The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement at 25: the need for coherent engagement in London (April 2023)
- The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement at 25: what does the future hold for the Agreement? (April 2023)
- Northern Ireland: dangers and opportunities for London (November 2022)
- Northern Ireland: how can power-sharing be revived? (July 2022)
- Post-election negotiations in Northern Ireland must set the Belfast Agreement on a firmer footing and re-establish constructive politics (May 2022)
- Northern Ireland’s political future: challenges after the Assembly elections (May 2022)
- The political foundations of Northern Ireland are at risk of crumbling (Feb 2022)
- Renewing and reviving the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement (September 2021)
- The public policy challenges facing Northern Ireland (September 2021)
- Irish unity: why Britain should reflect (June 2021)
- Northern Ireland on the brink, again: the responsibility of London (April 2021)
- Northern Ireland in its centenary year: reviving the promise of the Good Friday Agreement (February 2021)
- Northern Ireland in its centenary year: a changing landscape (February 2021)
- Northern Ireland: politics on the move, destination uncertain (January 2020)
- Northern Ireland and a border poll: hard truths (October 2019)
- Investigating the mechanics of unification referendums in Ireland, North and South (September 2019)
- A Northern Ireland border poll (March 2019)
- Holding a border poll in Northern Ireland: when does it need to happen and what questions need to be answered? (March 2019)
- Challenges to good government in Northern Ireland: charting a future course (October 2018)
- Challenges to good government in Northern Ireland: all shapes and sizes of icebergs (October 2018)
- The Good Friday Agreement at 20: what’s next for Northern Ireland? (April 2018)
- The Good Friday Agreement at 20: what went wrong? (April 2018)
- Northern Ireland talks: is a deal in prospect? (October 2017)
- Following the general election, where now for Northern Ireland? (June 2017)
- Following Monday’s deadline, the future of devolved government in Northern Ireland remains uncertain (March 2017)
- Following the break down of talks in Northern Ireland, what now? (March 2017)
- Northern Ireland after the election (January 2017)
- Northern Ireland: where now? (January 2017)
- Brexit and Northern Ireland: key issues and possible consequences (July 2016)
- The future of Northern Ireland politics (April 2016)
- Ireland’s election leads to uncertainty over identity of next government (March 2016)
- Northern Ireland’s ‘Fresh Start’ agreement will bring short term stability but does not itself resolve the underlying problems (November 2015)
- Is Einstein right about Northern Ireland? (October 2015)
- Northern Ireland 1.01: A revision class for those with a sense of déjà vu (September 2015)