Anthony Birch
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Anthony Harold Birch (17 February 1924 – 13 December 2014) was a British scholar and an expert in
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
politics and comparative politics. He was a leading figure in the development of Britain's distinctive school of political science. Political historians have cited his influential works on representation, the
British government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central government, central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
,
federalism Federalism is a mode of government that combines a general level of government (a central or federal government) with a regional level of sub-unit governments (e.g., provinces, State (sub-national), states, Canton (administrative division), ca ...
,
nationalism Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation, Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Theory, I ...
, and national integration extensively.


Early life

Birch was born in North London and attended the William Ellis Grammar School in Gospel Oak."Lord Trevor Smith pays tribute to Anthony H. Birch"
/ref> After graduating from William Ellis Grammar School, he earned an economics degree at the University College, Nottingham graduating with first class honors in 1945. He was unable to serve in the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
due to poor health. After the war, he joined the
Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...
as an assistant principal and remained there for two years. His passion for scholarship motivated him to enroll in the
London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...
to pursue a PhD. under Harold Laski. His doctoral work was a comparative study of federalism and
public finance Public finance refers to the monetary resources available to governments and also to the study of finance within government and role of the government in the economy. Within academic settings, public finance is a widely studied subject in man ...
in Canada, Australia, and the United States. He obtained his doctorate in 1951. Shortly thereafter, he was awarded a scholarship from the Commonwealth Fund to pursue further studies in the United States as a Harkness Fellow at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
and the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
. He subsequently revised his dissertation and it was published in 1955 in his first book: ''Federalism, Finance and Social Legislation in Canada, Australia and the United States'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955).


Academic career

Birch took up his first teaching position in 1947 at the
University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...
, first as a lecturer in the Economics Department, and later in the new Department of Government, established by W.J.M. (Bill) Mackenzie.International Political Science Association
/ref> In 1959, he published his second book, ''Small Town Politics: A Study of Political Life in Glossop'' (London: Oxford University Press), a study of local politics in a town located in Derbyshire. The study was influenced by the contemporaneous studies of local power politics in the United States. The book viewed Glossop as a microcosm of wider changes in British politics and society in the 1950s. In a review of this work, the American Robert A. Dahl, a pioneer in studies of community power politics, wrote: "Anyone interested in the political life of modern communities will find this a useful book, and an American will not be disappointed in his search for significant parallels and differences". This work cemented Birch's reputation as a creative and eclectic scholar. In 1961, Birch worked at the
University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...
in the new Department of Political Studies. While working in the department, he appointed a number of young scholars, many of whom went on to have influential careers as political scientists, including: Robert Benewick, Robert Berki, Howard Elcock, Dennis Kavanagh, Stephen Kirby, Michael Leifer, Jeremy Noakes, Bhikhu Parekh, and (Lord) Trevor Smith. While at Hull, Birch published what has become his most widely cited work, ''Representative and Responsible Government: An Essay on the Constitution'' (London: Allen and Unwin, 1964). This text examines the tensions between responsibility and representation in the Constitution in the British historical tradition and in 18th and 19th century political thought. 'The book is about governmental theory but its conceptual framework never gets between the reader and the examples. It could be given painlessly to relative beginners, but raises issues in a way which could spark off the more advanced student'. In a review of this book, Geoffrey Marshall stated: "Professor Birch's book is of a kind which is rare and extremely useful". Bhikhu Parekh commented that it is: "Pioneered a way of looking at democracy, combining both abstract theory and political rhetoric". In 1967, Birch published his third book, ''The British System of Government'' (London: Allen and Unwin, 1967, first edition), which became essential reading for anyone looking for a concise overview of the operation of British political institutions in the late 20th century and was republished in 10 editions. In 1970, Birch became chair of the Politics Department at Exeter University. During this decade, his focus shifted to questions of nationalism and regional integration, a relevant issue at the time when the question of the devolution of power to Scotland and Wales was at the forefront of political attention. In 1971, Birch published another widely read text, ''Representation'', a brief introduction to the key concept of representation (London: Pall Mall Press and Macmillan, 1971). He published ''Political Integration and Disintegration in the British Isles'' (London: Allen and Unwin) in 1977. That year, he moved to Canada, and took up a position as professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia where he worked and taught until his retirement in 1989. It was in Victoria where he wrote his final two works, ''Nationalism and National Integration'' (New York: Routledge, 1989) and ''The Concepts and Theories of Modern Democracy'' (London: Routledge, 1993) which was republished as a third edition in 2007. By this time, Birch was well into his 80s. Birch's approach to political science was wide-ranging. He worked across many of the divisions in the field, including those that separate "theory" from empirical work, "domestic" from comparative politics, or "science" from engaged political commentary. His eclectic approach is apparent from the wide range of theoretical and empirical subjects upon which Birch wrote articles and reviews within the major political science journals, including '' World Politics'', the '' British Journal of Political Science'', '' Government and Opposition'', and ''Political Studies''.


Recognition

Birch was president of the Political Studies Association from 1972 to 1975 and vice-president of the International Political Science Association from 1973 to 1976. He was elected a fellow of the
Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; , SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities, and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bilingual council of distinguishe ...
in 1988, and was the recipient of the prestigious Sir Isaiah Berlin award for Lifetime Contribution to Political Studies from the Political Studies Association in 2002. Birch died in Victoria on 13 December 2014, at the age of 90.The Independent
/ref> On the day of his death, several former colleagues paid tribute to his work. Robert Benewick commented that: "Tony Birch's Representative and Responsible Government along with Samuel Beer's Modern British Politics were perhaps the most influential commentaries on British politics published in the 1960s. They challenged the more quantitative and behavioral approaches that were beginning to dominate political science". Lord Trevor Smith praised him as: "one of the most productive and innovative British political scientists in the past sixty years. Although widely read and respected, he never received the recognition that he merited. Invariably his publications were pioneering; he was a true lateral thinker". Wyn Grant described him as: "One of the pioneering figures in the establishment of an academic discipline of politics in Britain".


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Birch, Anthony 1924 births 2014 deaths Alumni of the London School of Economics Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada