Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

Christopher Harvie (born 21 September 1944,

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

) is a Scottish historian and a

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

(SNP) politician. He was a

Member of the Scottish Parliament Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; ; ) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The additional member system produces a form of proportional representation, where ...

(MSP) for Mid Scotland and Fife from 2007 to 2011. Before his election, he was Professor of British and Irish Studies at the

University of Tübingen The University of Tübingen, officially the Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen (; ), is a public research university located in the city of Tübingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The University of Tübingen is one of eleven German Excellenc ...

, Germany.

Life and career

Harvie grew up in the Borders village of

St Boswells St Boswells (; ) is a village on the south side of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders, about southeast of Newtown St Boswells on the A68 road. It lies within the boundaries of the historic county of Roxburghshire. It has a hotel, pos ...

and was educated in Kelso at Kelso High School and in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

at Royal High School. He studied at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, where he graduated in 1966 with a

First Class Honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...

M.A. in History. He received his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from Edinburgh in 1972 for a thesis on university liberalism and democracy, 1860–1886. As a historian, Harvie was the Shaw-Macfie Lang Fellow and a tutor at Edinburgh University 1966–1969. He joined the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

in 1969 as a history lecturer, and from 1978 he was a senior lecturer in history. In 1980, Harvie was appointed Professor of British and Irish Studies at the

. He is the author of several books on topics including

Scottish history The recorded history of Scotland begins with the Scotland during the Roman Empire, arrival of the Roman Empire in the 1st century, when the Roman province, province of Roman Britain, Britannia reached as far north as the Antonine Wall. No ...

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 ...

North Sea oil North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian ...

, the British political novel and European regionalisation. Harvie was formerly a member of the Labour Party. He co-wrote a pamphlet in favour of the Scottish Assembly along with

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

in 1979, and co-edited a history of Labour politics in Scotland. In 1988 he left the Labour Party for the SNP. He is Honorary President of the Scottish Association for Public Transport and holds honorary chairs at the

University of Wales, Aberystwyth Aberystwyth University () is a public research university in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding member institution of the former federal University of Wales. The university has over 8,000 students studying across three academic facul ...

and the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...

. He also writes for

Guardian Unlimited ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

's online ' comment is free' site, and he is a contributor to the '' Scottish Review of Books''. He was elected during the 2007 election for the Mid Scotland and Fife region. He served on the Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee. Harvie won the Free Spirit of the Year award at ''The Herald'' newspaper's 2008 Scottish Politician of the Year awards. He retired as an MSP at the 2011 election.

Bibliography

Books

* ''The Lights of Liberalism: University Liberals and the Challenge of Democracy, 1860–1886'', Allen Lane, 1976 * ''No Gods and Precious Few Heroes: Twentieth-century Scotland'', first published 1981, Edinburgh University Press (4th Edition), 2000 * ''The Centre of Things: the Political Novel from Disraeli to the Present'', Unwin Hyman, 1991 * ''Cultural Weapons: Scotland in a New Europe'', Polygon, 1992 * ''The Rise of Regional Europe'', Routledge, 1993 * ''Fool's Gold: the Story of

North Sea Oil North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian ...

'', Hamish Hamilton, 1994, Penguin 1995 * ''Travelling Scot: Essays on the History, Politics and Future of the Scots'', Argyll Publishing, 1999 * ''Broonland: The Last Days of

'', Verso, 2010 * ''A Floating Commonwealth: Politics, Culture, and Technology on Britain's Atlantic Coast, 1860–1930'', Oxford University Press, 2008 * ''Mending Scotland'', Argyll Publishing, 2004 * ''Scotland: A Short History'', Oxford University Press, 2002 * ''Deep-Fried Hillman Imp: Scotland's Transport'', Argyll Publishing, 2001 * ''The Road to Home Rule'', with Peter Jones, Polygon, 2000 * ''Scotland and Nationalism: Scottish Society and Politics, 1707–1994'', first published 1977, Routledge (4th Edition), 2004, *
A Voter's Guide to the Scottish Assembly
', with

, David Watt & Sons, 1979

Articles

* ''Labour and Scottish Government: The Age of Tom Johnston'', in ''The Bulletin of Scottish Politics'' No. 2, Spring 1981, pp. 1 – 20 * ''Drumtochty Revisited: The Kailyard'', in Lindsay, Maurice (ed.), ''The Scottish Review: Arts and Environment'' 27, August 1982, pp. 4 – 11, * ''Beyond Bairns' Play: A New Agenda for Scottish Politics'', in Hearn, Sheila G. (ed.), '' Cencrastus'' No. 10, Autumn 1982, pp. 11 – 14, * ''Drunk Men Looking at Thistles: Two Political Novels'', in Parker, Geoff (ed.), '' Cencrastus'' No. 19, Winter 1984, pp. 7 – 9, * ''A Memo to the Chairman of the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lang ...

'', in Parker, Geoff (ed.), '' Cencrastus'' No. 23, Summer 1986, p. 8, * ''Time Now for a New Politics for Scotland'', in Lawson, Alan (ed.), ''Radical Scotland'' Apr/May '87, pp. 6 & 7, * ''Faith and Scottish Identity'', in Lawson, Alan (ed.), ''Radical Scotland'' Jun/Jul '88. pp. 11 – 13,

References

External links

*
Christopher Harvie
Comment is free profile
Christopher Harvie
interview on his book Broonland: The Last Days of Gordon Brown on

New Statesman ''The New Statesman'' (known from 1931 to 1964 as the ''New Statesman and Nation'') is a British political and cultural news magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first c ...

by Jonathan Derbyshire {{DEFAULTSORT:Harvie, Chris 1944 births Living people People from Motherwell People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 20th-century Scottish historians Scottish literary critics Scottish political writers People educated at Kelso High School, Scotland Academics of the Open University Academic staff of the University of Tübingen Scottish Labour politicians Scottish National Party MSPs Members of the Scottish Parliament 2007–2011 21st-century Scottish historians