The Life and Works of Stephen Leonard White (1945–2023)
It was with great sadness that the worldwide community of scholars in our field learned of the passing of Professor Stephen L. White in November 2023. Stephen was our colleague at the University of Glasgow, where he worked for his entire career following his appointment as Lecturer in 1971 and completion of a PhD in Soviet Studies under the supervision of Alec Nove in 1973. From 1991 until his retirement in 2017, Stephen held the James Bryce Chair of Politics. Thereafter, he remained Professor Emeritus.
For longer-established readers of our journal, Stephen White will need no introduction. His nearly 500 publications encompassed reflections on the nature of the Soviet system and Soviet political culture, through incisive analysis of the momentous changes of 1985–1991, to the comparative study of post-Soviet elites and political systems and Russian public opinion and electoral behaviour. His multifaceted research on post-communist Russia came together in his last major single-authored monograph, Understanding Russian Politics (2011).
Stephen was also a stalwart supporter of this journal and its predecessor, Soviet Studies. A member of its Editorial Board for 40 years, he contributed no fewer than 22 single- or co-authored research articles to its pages during his career. His long-time friend, research collaborator and former colleague, Professor Derek S. Hutcheson of Malmö University, has kindly agreed to curate these contributions in this Virtual Special Issue and to add his own, more in-depth account of Stephen’s life and work. As well as showcasing Stephen’s almost inestimable contribution to the study of our region, these articles also offer insights that remain highly relevant to understanding ongoing developments there.
David J Smith, March 2024
Edited by
Derek S. Hutcheson(Professor of Political Science, Malmö University)