Law & Government

Biographical Details:

I am a political sociologist specialising in the politics of inequality and development, citizen participation and democracy, and evolving forms of governance, both formal and informal. I hold a BSc in Botany and Mathematics (UCD, 1992), an MSc in Rural Development (UCD, 1994) and a PhD in Sociology (NUI Maynooth, 2008) and have fifteen years experience working in international and community development policy and practice, in Africa and in Ireland. I have a particular interest in how social and political inequalities come to be produced and reproduced and my research to date has focused on exploring the conditions under which more marginalised groups and communities wield an influence at local and national levels. I have researched and published on Social Partnership, Active Citizenship, Community Development and Community Radio in Ireland and Poverty Reduction Strategy Programmes (PRSPs), State/Civil Society interactions, Decentralisation, Local governance and Peace-building in Africa. In my comparative study of national governance processes in Malawi and Ireland, supported by the IRCHSS and published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2010, I demonstrated that an active public sphere is necessary to deepen participation and democracy within national governance processes. In a number of subsequent articles, I highlighted the challenges for civil society groups engaged in such processes, together with the difficulties of introducing deliberative communication norms into spaces infused with traditional norms of bargaining and negotiation. Research on community radio in Ireland supported by the BAI and conducted with Dr Anne O¿Brien of NUI Maynooth/Kairos Communications demonstrated an erosion of the public sphere resulting from Ireland¿s experiments in `third way¿ governance and the sectoralised, service culture thereby produced. I am currently (2011-2014) working on a project on Peace-Building and Local Governance in the Great Lakes Region of Central Africa. This project is supported by both DCU and Trócaire and draws on fieldwork conducted in Burundi, the DRC and Rwanda.

Research Interests:

The politics of development, participation and governance - in Africa and in Ireland; civil society and community; media and development.

Selected Peer Reviewed Journals

• Gaynor, Niamh. 2014. Supporting Decentralisation in Fragile States - A View from Burundi. Development Policy Review, Forthcoming,
• O'Brien, Anne and Niamh Gaynor. 2013. Voice of the People? Objectives Versus Outcomes for Community Radio in Ireland. The Radio Journal, 11, 2
• Gaynor, Niamh and Anne O'Brien. 2012. "Because it all begins with Talk: Community Radio as a Vital Element in Community Development". Community Development Journal, 47, 3, pp436-447.
• Gaynor, Niamh. 2011. "Associations, Deliberation and Democracy: The Case of Ireland's Social Partnership". Politics And Society, 39, 4, pp497-520.
• Gaynor, Niamh and Anne O'Brien. 2011. Community Radio in Ireland: 'Defeudalising' the Public Sphere?. Javnost-the Public, 18, 3, pp23-38.
• Gaynor, Niamh. 2011. The global development project contested: The local politics of the PRSP process in Malawi. Globalizations, 8, 1, pp17-30.
• Gaynor, Niamh. 2011. In-Active Citizenship and the depoliticisation of community development in Ireland. Community Development Journal, 46, 1, pp27-41.
• Gaynor, Niamh. 2010. ¿But you can¿t compare Malawi and Ireland!¿: Shifting conceptual boundaries in a globalised world. Development In Practice, 20, 3, pp342-353.
• Gaynor, Niamh. 2010. Between Citizenship and Clientship: The Politics of participatory governance in Malawi. Journal Of Southern African Studies, 36, 4, pp801-816.
• Gaynor, Niamh. 2009. Deepening democracy within Ireland¿s Social Partnership. Irish Political Studies, 24, 3, pp303-319.

Selected Books

• Gaynor, Niamh. Transforming Participation?: The Politics of Development in Malawi and Ireland, , Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.

Selected Non-peer Reviewed Journals

• Gaynor, Niamh. 2011. Opportunities for Citizen Participation in Local Governance in Burundi. A research report prepared in colllaboration with the Governance and Human Rights Programme of Trocaire-Burundi,
• Niamh Gaynor. 2010. Globalising higher education: Challenges and contradictions. Policy and Practice: A Development Education Review, 11,
• Gaynor, Niamh & Anne O'Brien. 2010. Drivers of Change?: Community Radio in Ireland. Broadcasting Authority of Ireland Media Research Funding Scheme,

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• Gaynor, Niamh, Supporting Citizen Participation in Local Governance: Lessons from Burundi, Trocaire Annual Conference - Invited lecture, 01-OCT-12 - 05-OCT-12, Leixlip, Ireland
• Gaynor, Niamh, Opportunities for Citizen Participation in Local Governance in Burundi, Trocaire Learning Forum - Invited webinar presentation , 25-JUL-12 - 25-JUL-12, Maynooth
• Gaynor, Niamh, 'Impacts of and Resistance to Austerity among Women in Africa', Invited presentation, Feminist Open Forum, 26-APR-12 - 26-APR-12, Dublin
• Gaynor, Niamh, Plus ça change... Governance and Distributional Conflict in Burundi , Political Studies Association, 03-APR-12 - 05-APR-12, Belfast
• Gaynor, Niamh, Supporting peace building and local governance in Burundi, Invited Lecture , 16-JAN-12 - 16-JAN-12, UCC, Cork
• Gaynor, Niamh, "Des données et une analyse préliminaire sur les opportunités pour la participation citoyenne dans la gouvernance locale au Burundi", Atelier sur la Décentralisation au Burundi: Trócaire Burundi - Invited lecture, 07-SEP-11 - 08-SEP-11, Bujumbura, Burundi
• Gaynor, Niamh, Globalising resistance: Social movement activism in Malawi, European Conference on African Studies (ECAS), 15-JUN-11 - 18-JUN-11, Uppsala, Sweden
• Gaynor, Niamh, Driving Change?: Community Radio in Ireland, Sociological Association of Ireland, 05-MAY-11 - 07-MAY-11, Cork
• Gaynor, Niamh, From Aid to Understanding: Partnerships in Development Education, WorldWise Teacher Conference - Invited lecture, 08-APR-11 - 08-APR-11, Dublin
• Gaynor, Niamh, Understanding the Crisis: The Community Interest - Invited lecture, Understanding the Crisis, 18-FEB-11 - 18-FEB-11, NUI Maynooth
• Gaynor, Niamh, Imperialism and Africa: Local resistance in Malawi, Ireland Institute Lecture Series on The New International Order - Invited lecture, 15-MAY-10 - 15-MAY-10, Dublin
• Gaynor, Niamh, In from the margins: Development and internationalisation within Irish universities, Irish Aid Development Education Conference, 16-OCT-09 - 17-OCT-09, Limerick, Ireland
• Gaynor, Niamh, Is Social Partnership `anti-democratic¿? Representative democracy in an era of participatory governance: Lessons from Malawi, Political Science Association of Ireland Annual Conference, 17-OCT-08 - 19-OCT-08, Galway, Ireland
• Gaynor, Niamh, Developmental Partnerships: ¿Good Governance¿ or More of the Same?: A Comparative study of national development processes in Malawi and Ireland, International Sociological Association Annual Conference, 05-SEP-08 - 08-SEP-08, Barcelona
• Gaynor, Niamh, Participatory governance: Deepening or diluting democracy?: A comparative study of national development processes in Malawi and Ireland, Political Science Association Annual Post-Graduate Conference, 25-APR-08 - 26-APR-08, Dublin, Ireland
• Gaynor, Niamh, The PRSP process in Malawi: Implications for Civil Society, Irish Aid Development Education Conference, 23-MAR-06 - 23-MAR-06, Dublin
• Gaynor, Niamh, Global Discourses on Development and their Relevance to Ireland, NIRSA Seminar Series, NUI Maynooth, 05-MAY-05 - 05-MAY-05, NUI Maynooth