Donnacha Ó Beacháin

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Donnacha Ó Beacháin is Professor of Politics at the School of Law and Government, Dublin City University (DCU) where he lectures on post-Soviet politics, unrecognised states, Irish studies and foreign policy. 

Professor Ó Beacháin has twice been awarded the accolade “Champion of European Research” by Ireland’s National Support Network for FP7 and Horizon2020 in award ceremonies hosted by President Michael D. Higgins. The citations read that ‘as leaders of major research projects in the EU Framework Programme for Research and Development [these] researchers … are deemed to have reached the pinnacle of the European Research System’.

He has conducted research in all fifteen recognised post-Soviet UN member states and in each of the protracted conflict zones.


Professor Ó Beacháin was has been a core member or principal investigator in several multimillion euro EU-funded projects. He is also currently a core team member of a €1million research project devoted to the “dynamics of de facto state patron-client relations”, which is funded by the Research Council of Norway.      


Professor Ó Beacháin’s monograph is From Partition to Brexit: The Irish Government and Northern Ireland (Manchester University Press) which was the 2019 recipient of the Political Studies Association of Ireland's Brian Farrell prize for book of the year.

Other books include The Colour Revolutions in the Former Soviet Republics: Successes and Failures (with Abel Polese, Routledge, 2010), Destiny of the Soldiers: Fianna Fáil, Irish Republicanism and the IRA 1926-1973, (Gill and Macmillan, 2010), Life in Post-Communist Eastern Europe after EU Membership: Happy Ever After? (with Vera Sheridan and Sabina Stan, Routledge, 2012), Political Communication in Ireland (with Mark O'Brien, Liverpool University Press 2014) and From Whence I Came: The Kennedy Legacy, Ireland and America (with Brian Murphy, Merrion Press, 2021)

Book

Year Publication
2018 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2018) From Partition to Brexit: The Irish Government and Northern Ireland. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
2014 Donnacha Ó Beacháin and Mark O'Brien (2014) Political Communication in the Republic of Ireland. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.
2016 Isaacs, R.; Polese, A. (2016) Nation-building and identity in the post-soviet space: New tools and approaches. [Link] [DOI]
2012 Donnacha Ó Beacháin, Vera Sheridan and Sabina Stan (eds) (2012) Life in Post-Communist Eastern Europe After EU Membership. : Routledge.
2010 Donnacha Ó Beacháin and Abel Polese (eds.) (2010) The Colour Revolutions in the Former Soviet Republics: Success and Failures. : Routledge.
2010 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2010) The Destiny of the Soldiers: Fianna Fáil, Irish Republicanism and the IRA. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan.
2021 Donnacha Ó Beacháin Brian Murphy (2021) From Whence I Came: The Kennedy Legacy, Ireland and America. Dublin: Merrion.

Book Chapter

Year Publication
2019 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2019) 'Abkhazia and South Ossetia' In: Routledge Handbook of State Recognition. London : Routledge. [DOI]
2016 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2016) 'Nation-Building and Identity in the post-Soviet Space: New Tools and Approaches' In: Nation-building and elections in an unrecognised state: the case of Abkhazia. London and New York : Routledge.
2015 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2015) '‘Elections without recognition: presidential and parliamentary contests in Abkhazia and Nagorny Karabakh' In: The Unrecognised Politics of De Facto States in the Post-Soviet Space. Yerevan and Fribourg : Caucasus Institute, / International Association for the Study of the Caucasus / Academic Swiss Cauca.
2014 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2014) 'Elections and Political Communication' In: Political Communication in the Republic of Ireland. Liverpool : Liverpool University Press.
2014 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2014) 'The Russian Federation and Georgia' In: Karmo Tüür and Viacheslav Morozov(Eds.). Russian Federation 2014: Short-term prognosis. Tartu : University of Tartu Press.
2013 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2013) 'The Role of the EU and the OSCE in Promoting Security and Cooperation in the South Caucasus and Moldova' In: Ayca Ergun and Hamlet Isaxanli(Eds.). Security and Cross-Border Cooperation in the EU, Black Sea Region and the Southern Caucasus. : (NATO Science for Peace and Security Series, IOS Press.
2012 Donnacha Ó Beacháin and Abel Polese (2012) 'Rocking the vote: new forms of youth organisations in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union' In: Youth and Social Change in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union. London and New York : Routledge.
2012 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2012) 'Snapshots from Abkhazia 2001-2012' In: Reflections on Abkhazia 1992-2012. London : Abkhazworld.
2011 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2011) '‘Faking It: Neo-Soviet Electoral Politics in Central Asia’' In: Voting for Hitler and Stalin: Elections Under 20th-century Dictatorships. Frankfurt : Campus / Chicago University Press.
2010 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2010) 'Roses and Tulips: Dynamics of Regime Change in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan' In: Stephen White and David Lane (eds.) Rethinking the 'Coloured Revolutions'. London and New York : Routledge.
2009 Donnacha Ó Beacháin and Abel Polese (2009) 'From roses to bullets: the rise and decline of post-Soviet colour revolutions' In: Totalitarianism and Transformation: Central and Eastern Europe between Socialist Legacy and Democratic Transformation (Totalitarismus und Transformation Defizite der Demokratiekonsolidierung in Mittel- und Osteuropa). Gottingen : Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
2007 Ó Beacháin, Donnacha (2007) 'The Necessary Lie: Political Parties and Elections in Central Asia' In: David Louis Dusseault (ed.)(Eds.). The Commonwealth of Independent States: Form and Substance. University of Helsinki : Kikimora/Aleksanteri Institute, University of Helsinki.
2007 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2007) 'Transformation of Social Status: Ethnic Russians in Post-Soviet Kazakhstan' In: Theorising Social Change in Post-Soviet Countries: Critical Approaches. Oxford and New York : Peter Lang.
2005 Ó Beacháin, Donnacha (2005) 'Kazakhization and Language Policy in Post-Soviet Kazakhstan [in Russian]' In: Vitaly Merkushev (ed.)(Eds.). Political Science and State Power in Russia and the Newly Independent States. Yekaterinburg : Eurasian Political Science Network/Russian Academy of Sciences.
2005 Ó Beacháin, Donnacha (2005) 'Political Culture' In: Vanessa Ruget and Victoria Lavrova (eds)(Eds.). A Political Science Reader for Central Asian Students. Washington DC and Bishkek : Civic Education Project/American University of Central Asia.
2005 Ó Beacháin, Donnacha (2005) 'Authoritarian and Totalitarian Regimes' In: Vanessa Ruget and Victoria Lavrova (eds.)(Eds.). A Political Science Reader for Central Asian Students. Washington DC and Bishkek : Civic Education Project/American University of Central Asia.
2004 Ó Beacháin, Donnacha (2004) 'Power without Passion: The Deradicalization of European Political Parties' In: Harrington, Carol, Ayman Salem and Tamara Zurabishvili eds(Eds.). Harrington, Carol, Ayman Salem and Tamara Zurabishvili eds. After Communism: Critical Perspectives on Society and Sociology. Oxford and New York : Peter Lang.
2022 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2022) 'Intersections of modern Irish and Ukrainian History' In: Ireland and Ukraine Studies in Comparative Imperial and National History. New York : Columbia University Press. [Link]
2020 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2020) 'The Moldova-Transnistria Conflict' In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia Of Peace And Conflict Studies. London : Palgrave. [Link] https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11795-5_49-1

Peer Reviewed Journal

Year Publication
2019 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2019) 'Cheque-mates? Abkhazia’s quest for international recognition'. Studies of Transition States and Societies, 11 :55-76. [Link]
2019 Beacháin, D. (2019) 'Ireland’s foreign relations in 2018'. Irish Studies in International Affairs, 30 . [Link] [DOI]
2019 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2019) 'Ireland's Foreign Relations in 2018'. IRISH STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (PRINT), 30 :235-264. [DOI]
2019 Beacháin, D. (2019) 'Ireland’s foreign relations in 2017'. Irish Studies in International Affairs, 29 . [Link] [DOI]
2017 Donnacha Ó Beacháin and Rob Kevlihan (2017) 'Menus of Manipulation: Authoritarian Continuities in Central Asian Elections. 25.4 (2017): 407-434'. DEMOKRATIZATSIYA: THE JOURNAL OF POST-SOVIET DEMOCRATIZATION, 25 (4):407-434.
2017 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2017) 'Ireland’s Foreign Relations in 2016'. IRISH STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (PRINT), 28 :201-223.
2017 Donnacha Ó Beacháin, Abel Polese and Slavomír Horák. (2017) 'Strategies of legitimation in Central Asia: regime durability in Turkmenistan'. CONTEMPORARY POLITICS (PRINT), 23 (4):427-445.
2016 Ó Beacháin, D.; Comai, G.; Tsurtsumia-Zurabashvili, A. (2016) 'The secret lives of unrecognised states: Internal dynamics, external relations, and counter-recognition strategies'. Small Wars and Insurgencies, 27 . [Link] [DOI]
2016 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2016) 'Ireland’s Foreign Relations in 2015'. IRISH STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (PRINT), 27 :235-278.
2016 Polese, A.; Kevlihan, R.; Ó Beacháin, D. (2016) 'Introduction: hybrid warfare in post-Soviet spaces, is there a logic behind?'. Small Wars and Insurgencies, 27 . [Link] [DOI]
2016 Donnacha Ó Beacháin, Giorgio Comai and Ann Tsurtsumia-Zurabashvili (2016) 'The secret lives of unrecognised states: Internal dynamics, external relations, and counter- recognition strategies'. Small Wars and Insurgencies, 27 (3).
2016 Polese A.; Kevlihan R.; Ó Beacháin D. (2016) 'Introduction: hybrid warfare in post-Soviet spaces, is there a logic behind?'. Small Wars and Insurgencies, 27 (3):361-366. [DOI]
2016 Ó Beacháin D.; Comai G.; Tsurtsumia-Zurabashvili A. (2016) 'The secret lives of unrecognised states: Internal dynamics, external relations, and counter-recognition strategies'. Small Wars and Insurgencies, 27 (3):440-466. [DOI]
2015 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2015) 'Elections without recognition: presidential and parliamentary contests in Abkhazia and Nagorny Karabakh'. CAUCASUS SURVEY, 3 (3):239-257.
2015 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2015) 'Ireland’s Foreign Relations in 2014'. IRISH STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (PRINT), 26 :275-320.
2015 Ó Beacháin, D.; Kevlihan, R. (2015) 'Imagined democracy? Nation-building and elections in Central Asia'. Nationalities Papers, 43 . [Link] [DOI]
2014 Donnacha Ó Beacháin and Frederik Coene (2014) 'Go West: Georgia’s European identity and its role in domestic politics and foreign policy objectives'. Nationalities Papers, 41 :923-941.
2014 Donnacha Ó Beacháin and Rob Kevlihan (2014) 'Imagined democracy? Nation-building and Elections in Central Asia'. Nationalities Papers, 41 :1-20.
2014 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2014) 'Ireland’s Foreign Relations in 2013'. IRISH STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (PRINT), 25 :259-301.
2013 Ó Beacháin, D.; Kevlihan, R. (2013) 'Threading a needle: Kazakhstan between civic and ethno-nationalist state-building'. Nations and Nationalism, 19 . [Link] [DOI]
2013 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2013) 'Ireland’s Foreign Relations in 2012 '. IRISH STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (PRINT), 24 :347-376.
2013 Donnacha O'Beacháin (2013) 'The Role of External Actors in Post-Soviet Protracted Conflicts'. CONTEMPORARY CENTRAL ASIA, 17 :30-48.
2012 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2012) 'The Dynamics of Electoral Politics in Abkhazia'. Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 45 :165-174.
2012 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2012) 'Ireland's Chairmanship of the OSCE'. IRISH STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS (PRINT), :89-109.
2011 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2011) 'Social and political perceptions of the Borat phenomenon in Kazakhstan: evidence from a case study of university students'. Studies of Transition States and Societies, 3 :51-63.
2011 Donnacha Ó Beacháin and Abel Polese (2011) '‘The colour revolution virus and authoritarian antidotes: political protest and regime counter attacks in post communist spaces’'. DEMOKRATIZATSIYA: THE JOURNAL OF POST-SOVIET DEMOCRATIZATION, 19 :111-132.
2010 Ó Beacháin, Donnacha and Abel Polese (2010) ''Rocking the Vote': New forms of youth organisations in post communist spaces'. Journal of Youth Studies, 13 :615-630.
2010 Ó Beacháin, Donnacha (2010) '‘Slightly Constitutional’ Politics: Fianna Fáil’s tortuous entry to the Irish Parliament, 1926-27''. Parliamentary History, 29 .
2009 Ó Beacháin, Donnacha (2009) ''Was Sinn Féin Dying? A quantitative post mortem of the party's decline and the emergence of Fianna Fáil''. IRISH POLITICAL STUDIES (PRINT), 24 :385-398.
2009 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2009) 'Roses and tulips: dynamics of regime change in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan'. Journal Of Communist Studies And Transition Politics, 25 :199-226.
2008 Ó Beacháin, Donnacha and Abel Polese (2008) '‘American Boots and Russian Vodka: The importance of external factors in colour revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan’'. TOTALITARISMUS UND DEMOKRATIE, 5 :87-113.
2005 Ó Beacháin, Donnacha (2005) 'Parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan'. 24 :762-769.

Other Journal

Year Publication
2017 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2017) 'Electoral Politics in the De Facto States of the South Caucasus' (94) :2-8. [Link]
2017 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2017) 'The Northern Ireland Peace Process: Lessons For Ukraine?' 3 (9) :39-49.
2015 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2015) 'The Dog that Didn’t Bark: The evolution of Southern unionism in pre and post-revolutionary Ireland' 23 (4) :44-48.
2012 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2012) 'Politics in an Unrecognised State: The Case of Abkhazia' 21 :11-13.

Online Article

Year Publication
2014 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2014) European Union to Ukraine: sorry, you're on your own. ELEA
2014 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2014) ‘What Happens When an Unrecognized Country Experiences a Revolution?. ELEA [Link]
2014 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2014) Dubious Election Produces a Divisive New President in Abkhazia. ELEA
2012 Donnacha Ó Beacháin (2012) Politics in an Unrecognised State: The Case of Abkhazia. ELEA

Review Articles

Year Publication
2017 Polese, Abel; Beachain, Donnacha O.; Horak, Slavomir (2017) Strategies of legitimation in Central Asia: regime durability in Turkmenistan. REV [DOI]
Certain data included herein are derived from the © Web of Science (2024) of Clarivate. All rights reserved.

Professional Associations

Association Function From / To
Irish Association for Russian, Central and European Studies Vice President -
Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN) Member -
Marie Curie Fellowship Association (MCFA) Member -

Research Interests

Post-Soviet politics, Unrecognised States, Elections, Irish history, politics and foreign policy

Teaching Interests

Post-Soviet politics, Irish history, politics and foreign policy, Unrecognised States, Electoral Studies, Foreign Policy

Modules Coordinated

Term Title Subject
2020 Introduction To Modern Ireland LG112
2022 Unrecognised States in the Intl. System LG367
2020 Dissertation LG368
2022 Irish Foreign Policy LG525
2022 Russia & The Former Soviet Space LG524