The Royal Irish Academy/Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann champions research. We identify and recognise Ireland’s world class researchers. We support scholarship and promote awareness of how science and the humanities enrich our lives and benefit society. We believe that good research needs to be promoted, sustained and communicated. The Academy is run by a Council of its members. Membership is by election and considered the highest academic honour in Ireland.
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Richard Bourke is professor of the History of Political Thought and a fellow of King’s College at the University of Cambridge. He has published on the political ideas of the Enlightenment and on modern Irish history. His publications include Peace in Ireland: the war of ideas (Pimlico, rev. edn 2012) and Empire and revolution: the political thought of Edmund Burke (Princeton University Press, 2015).