University of Liverpool Department of Politics
Professor Jon Tonge Professor of Politics

University of LiverpoolDepartment of Politics

Elections, political parties and the politics of Northern Ireland.

I am Professor of Politics at the University of Liverpool. Since 2010 I have led the Economic and Social Research Council's Northern Ireland General Election studies, and I write on political parties, devolution and reform of the voting age across the United Kingdom and Ireland.

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Professor Jon Tonge, Professor of Politics at the University of Liverpool, in his office.

Professor Jonathan Tonge Professor of Politics · University of Liverpool

  • 5

    ESRC Northern Ireland General Election studies

    2010 · 2015 · 2017 · 2019 · 2024, as Principal Investigator

  • £1.8m+

    Research funding awarded

    ESRC, Leverhulme Trust, British Academy and UKRI

  • 24

    Books authored and edited

    Oxford University Press, Polity, Manchester University Press and others

  • 10

    Parliamentary and legislative committees

    Westminster, Stormont, the Oireachtas, Holyrood and the European Parliament

Research § 01

Three fields of work

Most of what I publish sits in one of three areas. Each has its own page with the projects, surveys and evidence behind it.

Field 01

Elections & surveys

Five successive ESRC Northern Ireland General Election studies, membership surveys of the DUP, UUP and Alliance parties, and the Britain Votes series on UK general elections.

Elections and surveys

Field 02

Northern Ireland

Parties, power-sharing institutions and the peace process — including current work on why the 1998 institutional design now struggles, and what could realistically be reformed.

Northern Ireland politics

Field 03

Voting age & participation

Chair of the Prime Minister's Youth Citizenship Commission, and lead investigator on a Leverhulme Trust study of voting age reform and how a lower franchise could be implemented.

Voting age reform

Books § 02

Flagship books

All books and publications

Selected from twenty-four authored and edited volumes. Each of the party books rests on an original membership survey.

2020

Britain Votes: The 2019 General Election

Oxford University Press, 2020

edited with Stuart Wilks-Heeg and Louise Thompson

Edited book

2014

Comparative Peace Processes

Polity, 2014

American Library Association Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2015.

Book

Recent § 03

Recent and forthcoming work

Full publication record

Journal articles and chapters published since 2022.

Public engagement § 04

Broadcast and comment

Media and public engagement

I have broadcast on politics for more than three decades, and have acted as a studio expert for the BBC during coverage of local and general elections since 2000. Most of that work is election analysis, Northern Ireland politics, and the workings of parties and parliaments.

  • 5,000+

    Television appearances

    International, national and regional output.

  • 3,000+

    Radio broadcasts

    BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 5 Live, the BBC World Service, and BBC and independent local radio.

  • Since 2000

    BBC election studio expert

    Local and general election coverage.

Sample appearances, January-September 2026

This is a small selection from hundreds of appearances during the period. More examples and Professor Tonge's own additions are on the media page.

Where next § 05

Start here

Journalists and producers

Broadcast and press comment on elections, Northern Ireland and party politics, with survey evidence behind it.

Media and public engagement

Policymakers and committees

Written and oral evidence to legislatures in London, Belfast, Dublin, Edinburgh and Brussels.

Policy evidence

Researchers and students

The full publication record, funded projects, and doctoral supervision and examining.

Publications