HIRST, Paul Quentin 1946-2003

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born May 20, 1946, in Holberton, Devon, England; died following a stroke June 16, 2003, in London, England. Educator and author. Hirst was a renowned political and social theorist who greatly influenced the New Labour movement in England. The son of a Royal Air Force officer, he moved around a great deal as a child until his family settled in Plymouth, England. He grew up to attend the University of Leicester, where he developed an interest in sociology and earned a B.A. in 1968; this was followed by a master's degree from the University of Sussex the next year. At the age of twenty-three he became one of the youngest lecturers at Birkbeck College, London, where he taught sociology. He was promoted to reader in social theory in 1978 and professor in 1985. At Birkbeck, where he remained until his untimely death, Hirst helped found the department of politics and sociology and later helped create the University of London consortium Ph.D. program, which combined disciplines ranging from sociology to the arts. At first an ardent Marxist, Hirst eventually became less avid about Marxism, though he retained leftist leanings. He was a cofounder and chair of the Charter 88 constitutional reform movement and, contrary to the prominent position, argued in against fears that globalization would put an end to the power and independence of nation states. Hirst had an interest in almost every subject his mind touched, and his books reflect his ability to write on many topics, including sociology, politics, and the law. These works include Social Evolution and Sociological Categories (1976), On Law and Ideology (1979), Marxism and Historical Writing (1985), Law, Socialism, and Democracy (1986), After Thatcher (1989), The Pluralist Theory of the State (1989), Representative Democracy and Its Limits (1990), Associative Democracy (1994), Globalisation in Question (1996; second edition, 1999), and From Statism to Pluralism (1997). Hirst was founder of the journal Economy and Society and chaired the editorial board of Political Quarterly. At the time of his death he was working on a monograph about the politics of space and was planning to get a master's degree in international security.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Writers Directory, 18th edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 2003.

PERIODICALS

Guardian (London, England), June 20, 2003, p. 25.

Independent (London, England), June 19, 2003, p. 16.

Times (London, England), June 23, 2003, p. 26.