Peter Mair (1951-2011)

On August 15, 2011, comparative political scientist Peter Mair died unexpected while on holiday with his family in his beloved Ireland. He was educated at University College Dublin (M.A.) and the University of Leiden (Ph.D.), and taught at various European universities, most recently the University of Leiden and the European University Institute in Florence. At the time of his death he had just started his new function as EUI Dean of Graduate Studies.

Peter Mair is most known for his defining work on political parties and party systems in Europe. Among his most notable works are Identity, Competition, and Electoral Availability: The Stabilisation of European Electorates 1885-1985 (with Stefano Bartolini), which won the ISSC-UNESCO Stein Rokkan Prize in 1990, and his book projects on party organization and foundational Party Politics article on the ‘the cartel party’ (with Richard Katz). Many of his best articles were bundled in Party System Change: Approaches and Interpretations. In additional, many colleagues will know him through some essential teaching texts, most notably the textbook Representative Government in Modern Europe: Institutions, Parties, and Governments (with Michael Gallagher and Michael Laver) and his reader The West European Party System.

Peter’s work was defined by his broad empirical and theoretical knowledge, his brilliant analytical mind, and his clear and systematic use of concepts and the comparative method. He was increasingly concerned by what he saw as the deteriorating state of democracy within Europe, in no small part because of the changed roles of political parties, and his recent work addressed the academic community, the policy community, and concerned citizens alike. The exceptional clarity of his arguments, as well as his effortless writing style, made his work accessible to a broad audience, and the envy of most of his colleagues.

Peter was not only a leading scholar of comparative politics, he was also an exceptional teacher and a wonderful mentor of graduate students and young colleagues. Over the years he was the PhD supervisor of many students in Leiden and Florence, who all warmly remember his kind and supportive personality at least as much his academic brilliance. It is through them, as well as through the many scholars influenced by his writings, that his legacy within comparative politics will live on long after his devastating untimely death.

Cas Mudde (DePauw University)

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