Peter Gowan (15 January 1946, Glasgow – 12 June 2009) was a professor of

international relations International relations (IR, and also referred to as international studies, international politics, or international affairs) is an academic discipline. In a broader sense, the study of IR, in addition to multilateral relations, concerns al ...

at London Metropolitan University, activist, published author and public speaker. He was a member of the editorial committee of ''

New Left Review The ''New Left Review'' is a British bimonthly journal, established in 1960, which analyses international politics, the global economy, social theory, and cultural topics from a leftist perspective. History Background As part of the emergin ...

'' and was one of the founders of ''Labour Focus on Eastern Europe''.

Biography

Along with his older sister and his mother Gowan moved to Belfast in April 1946 and lived there until he was nine. He never knew his father. He went to school at Princess Gardens in Belfast until he was seven and then to Brackenburgh House. When he was nine his mother moved to London to work and he went to prep school in Suffolk, Orwell Park, ultimately becoming head boy. He left there to go to Haileybury and Imperial Service College, in Hertfordshire when he was 13, in 1959 and from there went on to read politics and history at Southampton University. Gowan was diagnosed with his fatal illness only a couple of weeks into the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

. Despite knowing that his condition was terminal and his health fast-deteriorating, he not only bore it with good humour, but bravely continued to work to the limits of his capacity over the following months: his article "Crisis in the Heartland" for the January–February 2009 issue of ''New Left Review'' provides a succinct account of how he interpreted the origins of the

. He died at age 63 from the

asbestos Asbestos ( ) is a group of naturally occurring, Toxicity, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous Crystal habit, crystals, each fibre (particulate with length su ...

related disease, peritoneal mesothelioma on 12 June 2009.

Books

*''A Calculus of Power: Grand Strategy in the Twenty-First Century'' (Verso 2010) *''The Search for Order: Historical Reflections on the Crisis of Grand Strategies'' (Verso 2008)
''The Twisted Road to Kosovo''''Introduction''

''The Global Gamble: Washington's Faustian Bid for World Dominance''(Verso, 1999)
*''Crisis East and West: Must it be Global Barbarism?'' (Spokesman Books 1997) * ''The Question of Europe'' – Peter Gowan & Perry Anderson (eds) (Verso 1997) *''European Union Policy Towards the Visegrad States'' (London Metropolitan University 1996)

References

External links

at marxists.org
Articles at Labour Focus on Eastern Europe
* List of Peter Gowan works {{DEFAULTSORT:Gowan, Peter Scottish Marxists Deutscher Memorial Prize winners International Marxist Group members British international relations scholars Scottish Trotskyists 1946 births 2009 deaths Academics of London Metropolitan University Alumni of the University of Southampton Writers about globalization