By profession a medical doctor and a psychoanalytic psychiatrist, John Alderdice was from
1987 to 1998 the Leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland and one of the key
negotiators of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. He was the first Speaker of the new
Northern Ireland Assembly and later one of the four members of the international
Independent Monitoring Commission charged by the British and Irish Governments with
dealing with the remaining terrorist threat in Ireland.
1987 to 1998 the Leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland and one of the key
negotiators of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. He was the first Speaker of the new
Northern Ireland Assembly and later one of the four members of the international
Independent Monitoring Commission charged by the British and Irish Governments with
dealing with the remaining terrorist threat in Ireland.
Since 1996 he has been a life member of the House of Lords and was Convenor of the
Liberal Democrats in the House during the Conservative/Liberal Coalition Government. He
is currently a member of the House of Lords Select Committee on International Relations
and Defence and is the UK’s Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan and Central Asia (Uzbekistan,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan). He is a former President (now
Presidente d’Honneur) of Liberal International – the worldwide body of more than 100 liberal
political parties.
Liberal Democrats in the House during the Conservative/Liberal Coalition Government. He
is currently a member of the House of Lords Select Committee on International Relations
and Defence and is the UK’s Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan and Central Asia (Uzbekistan,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan). He is a former President (now
Presidente d’Honneur) of Liberal International – the worldwide body of more than 100 liberal
political parties.
John Alderdice is a Senior Research Fellow at Harris Manchester College, Oxford, an
Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, a Visiting Fellow at Jesus College,
Cambridge, a Professor of Practice at both Queen’s University Belfast and the University of
Wales Trinity St David, and the Chair of both the Just Society Trust and The Concord
Foundation. He speaks, writes, and consults on terrorism and violent political conflict,
religious faith and fundamentalism, and the problems of indigenous peoples.
Honorary Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford, a Visiting Fellow at Jesus College,
Cambridge, a Professor of Practice at both Queen’s University Belfast and the University of
Wales Trinity St David, and the Chair of both the Just Society Trust and The Concord
Foundation. He speaks, writes, and consults on terrorism and violent political conflict,
religious faith and fundamentalism, and the problems of indigenous peoples.