[4] The commission's work on reforming Northern Ireland's police dealt with one of the most intractable issues in the negotiations around the Good Friday Agreement.
Apart from Northern Ireland and Cyprus, McGarry has advised on a range of conflicts, including in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iraq, Kosovo, and Ukraine.
[11] On 30 June 2016, McGarry was made an Officer of the Order of Canada by Governor General David Johnston for "his scholarly contributions to the study of ethnic conflict and for designing Governance Frameworks that promote peace.
[13] In 2022 he was awarded the Pearson Peace Medal, previous recipients of which include Romeo Dallaire, Louise Arbour, and Beverly McLachlin.
[14] In 2009, a book entitled Consociational Theory: McGarry and O'Leary and the Northern Ireland Conflict was published, edited by Rupert Taylor.