Gordon Smith (academic)
Gordon Smith (1927 – 2009) was a British lecturer, professor and political scholar in the field of German and comparative European politics, who served as Head of Department for Government at the London School of Economics. He is said to have been one of Britain's leading scholars of comparative European politics.[1][2][3][4]
Life
Having been stationed by the British army in
Smith collaborated with Vincent Wright, Klaus Goetz and Peter Mair to establish the academic journal West European Politics in 1978. Smith also co-founded the journal German Politics and helped establish the European Political Science Research Consortium[6] and the Association for the Study of German Politics,[7] whose chairman he was from 1986 to 1988. He was later elected an honorary Vice-Chairman. He rejected the opinion of some colleagues that political processes can be explained through generalizations; instead, he viewed the history and culture of a country indispensable and essential in understanding political developments and changes.[8]
The Vincent Wright and Gordon Smith Memorial Prize
The Vincent Wright Memorial Prize was established in 1999 to honour the memory of Vincent Wright. Following the untimely death of Smith in 2009, the award was renamed to the Vincent Wright and Gordon Smith Memorial Prize. Two prizes are awarded annually on the recommendation of members of the editorial advisory board for the best articles published in the journal during the preceding year.[9]
Publications
Books
- Politics in Western Europe: A comparative analysis, 1972 (ISBN 0-8419-1263-7)
- Democracy in Western Germany. Parties and politics in the Federal Republic, 1979 (ISBN 0-566-05157-5)
- As editor, with William E. Paterson: The West German model. Perspectives on a stable state, 1981 (ISBN 0-7146-3180-9)
- As editor, with Herbert Döring: Party government and political culture in Western Germany, 1982 (ISBN 0-312-59760-6)
- As editor: Developments in West German politics, 1989 (ISBN 0-333-47368-X)
- As editor, with Peter Mair: Understanding party system change in Western Europe, 1990 (ISBN 0-7146-3381-X)
- As editor: Developments in German politics, 1992 (ISBN 0-8223-1266-2)
Gordon Smith was, alongside Vincent Wright, editor of the journal West European Politics (from 1978, ISSN 0140-2382). Together with a group of political scientists, he participated in the founding of the journal German Politics in 1992 (ISSN 0964-4008).
Commemorative publications
- Continuity and change in German politics. Beyond the politics of centrality? A Festschrift for Gordon Smith, ed. Stephen Padgett and Thomas Poguntke, 2002. A commemorative publication dedicated to Smith entailing a bibliography of Smith's publications.
References
- TheGuardian.com. 4 February 2010.
- ^ "Gordon Smith: Political scientist".
- Independent.co.uk. 22 October 2011.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - TheGuardian.com. 4 February 2010.
- ^ "European Consortium for Political Research". Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 June 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - Independent.co.uk. 22 October 2011.
- .