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Politics, International Relations & Philosophy

History of Politics at Keele

Excellent Politics research has been undertaken at Keele since the establishment in 1950 of the University College of North Staffordshire, which in 1962 became Keele University. The Department of Politics’ founding Professor was Samuel (‘Sammy’) Finer, formerly of Balliol College, Oxford, who headed the Department until 1966. Professor Finer’s inspired leadership left a lasting impression on Politics at Keele. As an active member of the UK Political Studies Association (PSA) and Vice-President of the International Political Science Association, Finer also had a broader impact on the intellectual development and professionalization of political studies in the UK and overseas.

Finer’s Comparative Politics Legacy

Professor Dennis Kavanagh’s obituary of Finer described him as ‘one of the giants of post-war British political science’.[1] Finer’s greatest legacy comprises the empirical and analytical insights which his research and publications generated in the disciplinary sub-field of Comparative Politics that he helped mould. Finer produced important research on a wide range of political phenomena whilst at Keele, but also after leaving for Manchester and subsequently as Gladstone Professor of Government and Administration at all Souls College, Oxford. These include the comparative study of political institutions,[2] parliaments and interest groups,[3] the relations between civil power and the military[4] and parties and elections[5]. His crowning achievement was his posthumously published three-volume The History of Government from the Earliest Times, 1997. As the title suggests, this tour de force comprises a comparative study of all major governments that ever existed.

Sammy Finer

Sammy Finer
(Keele 1950-1966)

 

Jean Blondel

Jean Blondel
(Keele 1958-1963)

 

Jack Hayward

 Jack Hayward
(Keele 1963-1973)

 

martin Harrison

 Martin Harrison
(Keele 1966-1993)

 

John Horton

 John Horton
(Keele (1995 - present)

 

Contributions by early Keele scholars to the development of the profession

Numerous distinguished comparative political scientists have worked at Keele in sixty-plus years that Politics has been taught here. Both whilst at Keele and in their subsequent careers, several have made significant contributions to our understanding of modern politics and helped shape the profession. Prominent amongst them is Jean Blondel, a French political scientist recruited in 1958. After leaving Keele in the 1960s, Blondel became one of the founding professors at the Department of Government at Essex and was later appointed Professor at the European University Institute in Florence. Blondel’s extensive academic output has focused above all on the partially overlapping themes of political parties and party systems,[6] legislatures[7] and cabinet government[8], on each of which he has generated major insights. Blondel also played a major role in developing European political science through the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR), of which he was in 1969 a founding member and the first Director. Professor Ian Budge of Essex University claims Blondel’s ‘institutional and intellectual achievements have made him one of the most influential political scientists of the late twentieth century’[9].

Two other Keele comparative political scientists who were to go on to become professors in their own right, to head Politics departments at other UK universities and to contribute to developing the profession were Hugh Berrington (Keele 1957 to 1965) and Jack Hayward (Keele 1963 to 1973). Berrington came from Nuffield College, Oxford, and was a prominent early exponent of the developing empirical, often quantitative, approach to the study of political behaviour. He published on various aspects of especially British politics, in part with Finer,[10] and was also interested in the psychology of politics. He left in 1965 to head the department of Politics at Newcastle. Jack Hayward researched into elements of European integration,[11] and published extensively on French politics and the French executive.[12] In recognition of the excellence of his work, he was later awarded the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur by the President of France. Hayward left Keele in 1973 to be Professor and Head of Department at Hull and later became Professor at St Antony’s College Oxford, where he set up a School of European Studies. Berrington and Hayward both served as Chair and as President of the PSA. Hayward was Editor of the PSA’s influential journal, Political Studies and in 2011 was awarded the Sir Isaiah Berlin Prize for Lifetime Contribution to Political Studies.

Comparative Politics at Keele

Whilst at Keele, Finer recruited not only Blondel, Berrington and Hayward, but numerous other colleagues who shared his commitment to using the Comparative Politics method to enhance our understanding of contemporary politics. This helped make Keele one of the most academically vibrant departments in the country. It also ensured that the comparative empirical study of contemporary politics has remained a major feature of Politics teaching and research at Keele ever since. The geographical focus of Comparative Politics research at Keele has been wide-ranging. Western and eastern Europe, the European Union and the United Sates have figured prominently throughout, but Keele scholars have also contributed to our understanding of politics in the Third World. Comparative Politics research at Keele has embraced three thematic clusters: 1) governmental institutions, political parties and elections; 2) pressure groups, policy-making and Comparative Politics Theory and 3) the politics of non-democracy.

Governmental Institutions, Political Parties and Elections

Finer was succeeded as Head of Politics by Professor Martin Harrison, who came in 1966 from Manchester and led the Politics Department until 1993. Harrison published above all on European politics and produced important work on political parties in the UK, on the media, on French politics and the French presidency (in part with Hayward) and on aspects of European integration.[13]. His tenure as Head of Department had seen the appointment of a number of experts on contemporary European politics. One was Alistair Cole (Keele 1989-1995), who published principally on France [14] and was subsequently appointed to a chair at Cardiff. Keele’s tradition of empirical research into contemporary European politics was revitalised and extended by the appointment in 1993 of Michael Waller as Professor of European Politics. Previously at Manchester University, where he had specialised in European communism,[15] Waller had in 1985 co-founded in the Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics and was now at the forefront of research into the profound political changes underway in eastern Europe. Prominent amongst the themes on which Waller published were European political parties and elections.[16] Following Waller’s retirement in 2000, Thomas Poguntke was appointed as Professor of Political Science and brought with him further expertise on comparative research into political parties, as well as on the German Green Party.[17] Poguntke left in 2005 and now has a chair at Düsseldorf in his native Germany. In 2006, Mike Tappin joined the Politics team. Tappin had a longstanding interest in US electoral behaviour, the US presidency and comparative legislative behaviour and had between 1995 and 1999 served as a Member of the European Parliament.

Pressure Groups, Policy-making and Comparative Politics Theory

Keele’s also has a tradition of research into pressure groups, policy making and Comparative Politics theory. One of Finer’s last empirically-oriented appointees was Richard Kimber, who had been a Keele undergraduate. Kimber served in the Department from 1965 to 1997. Amongst his research and publications were significant contributions on political parties, pressure groups and policy making.[18] He was also very interested in rational choice approaches to the study of politics, which was reflected in the key role he played in founding the highly-rated Journal of Theoretical Politics in 1989. Kimber passed on the editorship to Keith Dowding, now Professor of Political Science at the Australian National University, another Keele Politics graduate.

1966 also saw the appointment of Jeremy Richardson, who had also graduated from Keele. Richardson was a member of the Department until 1982 and had by then been promoted to a readership. He initially collaborated closely with Kimber on a research into pressure group politics and they generated a number of joint publications[19], including a volume on pressure group politics that was to become core texts for many students in the UK and beyond.[20] Richardson left for the position of Head of the Department of Politics at the University of Strathclyde and later held chairs at Warwick, Essex and Oxford. He continued to publish on pressure groups[21] and political parties,[22] but the main themes of his publications at Keele and thereafter related to pubic policy and policy making, especially in Europe.[23] Keele’s tradition of research on public policy and European local government was renewed when Peter John joined the Department in 1992. John’s publications included co-authored work with Keith Dowding and Alistair Cole.[24] John left Keele in 1995 and was later appointed Hallsworth Professor of Governance at Manchester and then Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at UCL.

The Politics of Non-democracy

Keele also became known as a centre of excellent work on the politics of non-democratic regimes. Martin Dent (Keele 1963 to 1993) specialised in the politics of Nigeria and on issues related to the making and keeping of peace in multi-ethnic societies.[25] Dent not only researched these topics, but also sought to put some of the insights generated by his scholarship into practice, both as an honorary Nigerian tribal chief and much later through his determined efforts bring about Third World debt relief. He co-founded and actively participated in the Jubilee 2000 Debt Campaign[26] and was awarded an OBE for services to international development and relief from debt. Another Keele African politics specialist who went on to apply his expertise outside academia is David Throup (1988-1994). Throup published amongst other things on Kenyan military and party politics[27] and left Keele to become a research officer on Africa at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Keele’s most distinguished specialist on non-democratic regimes to date has been Rosemary O’Kane. During her exceptionally long tenure at Keele (1973 to 2009) she produced world-class research on a broad range of topics. These included coups d’etat,[28] democratisation[29] and the comparative method,[30]but she is probably known for her detailed and ground-breaking work on revolutions and on terror regimes.[31] O’Kane became Professor of Comparative Political Theory in 1998, was the last Head of the Department (in 1999) and became Emeritus Professor in 2009.

Political Thought and Political Philosophy

Keele has a reputation as a centre for excellent research not only into various aspects of ‘real world politics’ in different parts of the world, but also in the field of political thought and political philosophy. One of the most distinguished Keele scholars working in this area was Margaret Canovan. She worked at Keele from 1974 until her retirement in 2002. Canovan developed an excellent reputation for her contribution to contemporary political theory and became Professor of Political Thought in 1996. Canovan’s work made an enduring impact in at least three interrelated areas. Canovan is widely recognised as the foremost interpreter of the political theory of Hannah Arendt, who was noted amongst other things for her writings on violence, revolutions and the origins of totalitarianism.[32] Canovan also has an international reputation for her wide-ranging work on populism.[33] Her third major research theme was nationalism.[34]

Further political theory topics in which Keele boasts a strong reputation are the related themes of toleration and obligation. One of the country’s leading contemporary scholars in this area is John Horton, who came to Keele in 1995 from York, served as Head of Department from 1995 to 1998 and became Professor of Political Philosophy in 2005. Another Keele scholar with an eminent reputation in this field in Glen Newey, Professor of Politics and International Relations at Keele from 2007 until 2011. John Horton and Glen Newey have made major contributions to political theory and are best known for their work in contemporary analytical political theory. Horton is one of the foremost experts of the associative theory of political obligation, with revised edition of his book, Political Obligation, appearing twenty years after the first edition. [35] He and Newey are also internationally known for their work on the political theory of toleration, and Newey’s book on toleration, Virtue, Reason and Toleration, is widely regarded as one of the outstanding works in the field. They have also both been in the forefront of the development of what has become known as the ‘realist critique’ of contemporary liberal theory, which challenges its utopianism and dissociation from ‘real’ politics, with Newey’s book After Politics, again being one of the seminal early statements of this view.[36]

Current Politics Research at Keele

In 1999, the Department of Politics merged with the Department of International Relations and a small group working on the Environment to form the School of Politics, International Relations and the Environment (SPIRE). Horton served as Head of SPIRE from 1999 to 2002 and again from 2004 to 2007. Philosophy was added to the School in 2003 and in 2006, four colleagues previously located in Keele’s excellent Department of American Studies joined the School. One was Professor Chris Bailey, who served as Head of SPIRE from 2007 to 2011.[37]

The SPIRE Politics team continues to produce excellent research. Its prime focus can be summarised under four partially overlapping headings. The first two build on the University’s strong Comparative Politics tradition. One is Political Parties and Elections, especially in Europe. The other is Public Policy. Third, Keele has become an international centre of excellence on the Politics of the Environment and Sustainability. Finally, the Keele team continue to produce excellent Political Theory, which now benefits from the intellectual cross-fertilisation occasioned by the Department of Politics’ fusion with International Relations and Philosophy.

[1] Kavanagh, D. (1993) ‘Obituary: Professor Samuel Finer’, in The Independent.

[2] Finer, S. E. (1970) Comparative Government, London: Penguin Press.; Finer, S. E. ed. (1979) Five Constitutions: Contrasts and Comparisons, Harmondsworth: Penguin.

[3] Finer, S. E. (1958) Anonymous empire: a study of the lobby in Great Britain, London: Pall Mall.; Finer, S. E. (1958) Private industry and political power, London: Pall mall.; Finer, S. E., Bartholomew, D. J and Berrington, H. B. (1961) Backbench Opinion in the House of Commons, 1955-59, Oxford: Pergamon Press.

[4] Finer, S. E. (1962) The Man on Horseback: the role of the military in politics, London: Pall Mall.

[5] Finer, S. E. ed. (1975) Adversary politics and electoral reform, London: Anthony Wigram.; Finer, S. E. (1980) The Changing British Party System, 1945-1979, Washington D.C.: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research.

[6] Blondel, J. (1963) Voters, parties and leaders: the social fabric of British politics, Harmondsworth: Penguin.; Blondel, J. (1978) Political Parties: A genuine case for discontent, London: Wildwood House.

[7] Blondel, J. (1973) Comparative legislatures, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.; Blondel, J., Sinnott, R. and Svensson, P. (1998) People and Parliament in the European Union: participation, democracy and legitimacy, Oxford: Clarendon.

[8] Blondel, J. and Müller-Rommel, F. eds. (1997) Cabinets in Western Europe 2nd Edition, New York: St Martin’s Press;
Blondel, J. and Müller-Rommel, F. (1993) Governing Together: The Extent and Limits of Joint Decision-Making in Western European Cabinets, Basingstoke: Pelgrave; Blondel, J. and Cotta, M. eds. (1996) Party and Government: an inquiry into the relationship between governments and supporting parties in liberal democracy, New York: St Martin’s Press; Blondel, J. and Cotta, M. eds. (2000) The nature of party government: a comparative European perspective, New York: St Martin’s Press; Blondel, J. and Müller-Rommel eds. (2001) Cabinets in Eastern Europe, Basingstoke: Pelgrave.

[9] Budge, I. (2006) ‘Jean Blondel and the development of European political science’, European Political Science 5, 315-327.

[10]Finer, S. E., Bartholomew, D. J., Berrington, H. B. and Bartholomew, D. J. (1961) Backbench opinion in the House of Commons, 1955-59, Oxford: Pergamon Press.; Berrington, H. B. (1973) Backbench opinion in the House of Commons, 1945-55, Oxford: Pergamon Press.; Berrington, H. B. (1964) How Nations are Governed, London: Pitman.; Berrington, H. B. (1998) Britain in the nineties: the politics of paradox, London: Frank Cass.

[11] Hayward, J. ed. (1995) Industrial enterprise and European integration: from national to international champions in western Europe, Oxford: Oxford University Press.; Hayward, J. ed. (1996) Elitism, populism, and European politics, Oxford: Clarendon Press.; Hayward, J. and Page, E. C. eds. (1995) Governing the new Europe, Cambridge: Polity.; Hayward, J. ed. Leaderless Europe, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[12] Hayward, J. (1973) The one and indivisible French Republic, New York: Norton.; Hayward, J. (1991) After the French revolution: six critics of democracy and nationalism, New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf; Hayward, J. ed. (1993) De Gaulle to Mitterrand: presidential power in France, London: Hurst.; Hayward, J. and Wright, V. (2002) Governing from the Centre: Core Executive Coordination in France, Oxford: Oxford University Press.; Hayward, J. (2007) Fragmented France: two centuries of disputed identity, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[13] Harrison, M. (1960) Trade Unions and the Labour Party Since 1945, London: Sage.; Harrison, M. (1969) French Politics, Lexington: Mass Heath.; Williams, P. M. and Harrison, M. (1971) Politics and society in De Gaulle’s republic, London: Longman.; Harrison, M. (1985) TV news whose bias? A casebook analysis of strikes, television and media studies, Hermitage: Policy Journals.

[14] Cole, A. ed. (1990) French political parties in transition, Aldershot: Dartmouth.; Mendras, H. and Cole, A. (1991) Social Change in Modern France: towards a cultural anthropology of the Fifth Republic, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.; Cole, A. (1994) Francois Mitterrand: a study in political leadership, London: Routledge.; Cole, A. (2008) Governing and Governance in France, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.; Cole, A. and Raymond, G. G. (2001) Redefining the French Republic, Manchester: Manchester University Press.

[15] Waller, M. (1972) The Language of Communism: A Commentary, London: The Bodley Head Ltd.; Waller, M. (1981) Democratic centralism: an historical commentary, Manchester: Manchester University Press.; Waller, M. (1991) Comrades and Brothers: Communism and Trade Unions in Europe, London: Routledge.

[16] Waller, M. and Fennema, M. eds. (1988) Communist parties in Western Europe: decline or adaptation, Oxford: Blackwell.; Waller, M., Coppieters, B. and Deschouwer, K. (1994) Social democracy in a post-Communist Europe, Ilford: Frank Cass.; Waller, M. and Myant, M. eds. (1994) Parties, Trade Unions and Society in East-Central Europe (Special Issue of the Journal of Communist Studies), London: Routledge.; Waller, M. (1993) The End of the Communist Power Monopoly, Manchester: Manchester University Press.; Waller, M., Coppieters, B. and Malashenko, A. (1998) Conflicting loyalties and the state in post-Soviet Russia and Eurasia, London: Routledge.

[17] . Poguntke, T. (1993) Alternative politics: the German Green Party, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.; Müller-Rommel, F. and Poguntke, T. eds. (2002) Green parties in national governments, London: Frank Cass.

[18] Lees, J. D. and Kimber, R. eds. (1972) Political parties in modern Britain: an organizational and functional guide, London: Routledge.; Kimber, R. and Richardson, J. J. eds. (1974) Campaigning for the environment, London: Routledge.; Kimber, R. and Richardson, J. J. eds. (1974) Pressure groups in Britain: a reader, London: Dent.

[19]Kimber, R. and Richardson, J. J. eds. (1974) Campaigning for the environment, London: Routledge.

[20] Kimber, R. and Richardson, J. J. eds. (1974) Pressure groups in Britain: a reader, London: Dent.

[21] Richardson, J. J. ed. (1993) Pressure Groups, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[22] Whiteley, P., Richardson, J. J. and Seyd, P. (1994) True blues: the politics of Conservative Party membership, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

[23] Richardson, J. J. (1969) The policy-making process, London: Routledge.; Richardson, J. J. and Jordan, A. G. (1979) Governing under pressure: the policy process in a post-parliamentary democracy, Oxford: Robertson.; Richardson, J. J. ed. (1982) Policy Styles in Western Europe, London: Allen & Unwin.; Jordan, A. G. and Richardson, J. J. (1987) British politics and the policy process: an arena approach, London: Allen & Unwin.; Damgaard, E., Gerlich, P. and Richardson, J. J. eds. (1989) The Politics of Economic Crisis. Lessons from Western Europe, Avebury: Aldershot.; Mazey, S. and Richardson, J. J. eds. (1993) Lobbying in the European Community, Oxford: Oxford University Press.; Richardson, J. J. ed. (1996) European Union: power and policy-making, London: Routledge.

[24] Dowding, K. and John, P. (1996) ‘Exiting Behaviour under Tiebout Conditions: Towards a Predictive Model’, in Public Choice, 88, pp.393-406.; John, P. and Cole, A. (1998) ‘Urban Regimes and Local Governance in Britain and France: Policy Adaptation and Coordination in Leeds and Lille’, in Urban Affairs Review, 33(3), pp.382-404.; John, P. (1998) Analysing public policy, London: Continuum.; John, P. (2001) Local Governance in Western Europe, London: Sage.; Cole, A. and John, P. (2001) Local Governance in England and France, London: Sage.

[25] Dent, M. J. (1977) Improving Nigeria’s draft constitution. A constructive and detailed study with suggestions for amendment and improvement in the Constituent Assembly, Keele: Dark Horse.; Dent, M. J. (1982) The dispute over Falklands/Malvinas, the road to an honourable and lasting peace: the opportunity to work out a new political category: a study of the political skills needed in peacemaking, Keele: Dark Horse.; Dent, M. J. (1983) Conflict and reconciliation in Nigeria: the approach to the elections, London: Institute for the Study of Conflict.; Dent, M. J. (1999) The crisis of poverty and debt in the Third World, Aldershot: Ashgate.; Dent, M. J. (2004) Identity Politics: Filling the Gap Between Federalism and Independence, Aldershot: Ashgate.

[26] See Jubilee Debt Campaign Website

[27] Throup, D. (1987) Economic and social origins of Mau Mau, 1945-53, London: James Currey.

[28] O’Kane, R. H. T. (1981) ‘A Probabilistic Approach to the Causes of Coups d’Etat’, British Journal of Political Science, 11(3), pp.287-308.; O’Kane, R. H. T. (1993) ‘Coups d’Etat in Africa: A Political Economy Approach’, in Journal of Peace Research, 30(3), pp.251-270.

[29] O’Kane, R. H. T. (1995) ‘The National Causes of State Construction in France, Russia and China’, in Political Studies, 43, pp.2-21.

[30] O’Kane, R. H. T. (1993) ‘the ladder of abstraction: the purpose of comparison and the practice of comparing African Coups d’Etat’, in Journal of Theoretical Politics, 5(2), pp.169-193.

[31] O’Kane, R. H. T. (1987) The likelihood of coups, Aldershot: Avebury.; O’Kane, R. H. T. (1991) The revolutionary reign of terror: the role of violence in political change, Aldershot: Edward Elgar.; O’Kane, R. H. T. (1996) Terror, force and states: the path from modernity, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.; O’Kane, R. H. T. (2006) ‘Modernity, the Holocaust and politics’, in Economy and Society, 26(1), pp.43-61.; O’Kane, R. H. T. ed. (2000) Revolution: critical concepts in political science, volumes 1-4, London: Routledge.; O’Kane, R. ed. (2005) Terrorism, 2 Volumes, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

[32] Canovan, M. (1974) The political thought of Hannah Arendt, New York: Harcourt.; Canovan, M. (1992) Hannah Arendt: a reinterpretation of her political thought, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[33] Canovan, M. (1977) G. K. Chesterton. Radical Populist, New York: Harcourt.; Canovan, M. (1981) Populism, London: Junction Books.; Canovan, M. (1999) ‘Trust the People! Populism and the Two Faces of Democracy’, Political Studies, 47(1), pp.2-16.; Canovan, M. (2005) The people, Cambridge: Polity.

[34] Canovan, M. (1996) Nationhood and political theory, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

[35] Horton, J. P. (2010) Political Obligation 2nd Edition, Basingstoke: Pelgrave Macmillan.; Horton, J. P. eds. (1991) John Locke: a letter concerning toleration in focus, London: Routledge.; Horton, J. P. (1991) ‘A theory of social justice’, in Utilitas, 3(1), pp.121-138.; Horton, J. P. and Nicholson, P. eds. (1992) Toleration philosophy and practice, Aldershot: Avebury.; Horton, J. P. ed. (1993) Liberalism, multiculturalism and toleration, London: Macmillan.; Horton, J. P. (1993) ‘Moral conflict and political commitment’, in Utilitas, 5(1), pp.109-120.; Horton, J. P. and Mendus, S. eds. (1994) After MacIntyre: critical perspectives on the work of Alasdair MacIntyre, Cambridge: Polity Press.; Horton, J. P. (1994) ‘Three (apparent) paradoxes of toleration’, in Synthesis Philosophica, 9(1).; Horton, J. P. and Mendus, S. (1999) Toleration, identity and difference, Basingstoke: Macmillan.; Horton, J. P. and Mendus, S. eds. (2010) Aspects of toleration, London: Routledge.

[36] Newey, G. (1999) Virtue, reason and toleration: the place of toleration in ethical and political philosophy, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.; Newey, G. (2001) After politics: the rejection of politics in contemporary liberal philosophy, Basingstoke: Pelgrave Macmillan.; Horton, J. P. and Newey, G. eds. (2007) The Political Theory of John Gray, London: Routledge.; Newey, G. (2007) Freedom of expression: counting the costs, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars.; Newey, G. (2008) Routledge philosophy guidebook to Hobbes and Leviathan, London: Routledge.

[37] The acronym SPIRE was retained when Philosophy joined the School, but now stands for the School of Politics, International Relations and Philosophy. Professor Alex Danchev was Head of SPIRE from 2002 to 2004. Since 2011, SPIRE has been led by Professor Bülent Gökay.