Webinar on Paramilitary Disarmament — Lessons from Northern Ireland for Today

The John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at UMass Boston is hosting an important Moakley Chair Webinar titled Disarming Hamas: Drawing on the experience of paramilitary disarmament in Northern Ireland: Parallels & Differences.

The conversation will explore what the Northern Ireland peace process — including the disarmament of the Provisional IRA — can teach the world about current challenges in the Middle East.

Event Details

Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2025
Time: 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM EDT
Location: Zoom (virtual)
Register: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/dfn8zj3

Attendees will receive a confirmation email with the Zoom link upon registration.

Featured Speakers

Padraig O’Malley
John Joseph Moakley Distinguished Professor of Peace and Reconciliation, UMass Boston.

Lord John Alderdice
Former chairperson of the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC), the body responsible for overseeing the disarmament of the Provisional IRA and other paramilitaries following the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. Lord Alderdice brings decades of experience in conflict resolution, negotiation, and post-conflict stabilization.

About the Webinar

This session will examine:

• The parallels and differences between paramilitary disarmament in Northern Ireland and the situation involving Hamas.

• Lessons learned from the Good Friday Agreement process.

• Approaches to monitoring, negotiation, and achieving durable peace settlements.

The discussion offers an opportunity to hear directly from one of the central figures involved in the Northern Ireland peace process, alongside one of the leading scholars of reconciliation and conflict transformation.