The Editors
In July of last year, we lost a valued friend and colleague, Professor Robert Elgie from Dublin City University (DCU).
Robert was the Paddy Moriarty Professor of Government and International Studies at DCU and a leading authority in comparative politics. After gaining First Class Honours from Oxford University, he secured his PhD from the London School of Economics in 1992 on ‘The Influence of the French Prime Minister on the Policy-Making Process, 1981–1991’. He swiftly established himself as an expert on presidentialism and semi-presidentialism, later setting up a website (www.semipresidentialism.com) that became an essential resource for scholars. A member of the Royal Irish Academy from 2017, Robert was the author, co-author or editor of 16 books and authored or co-authored 50 journal articles.
Robert joined the board of Government and Opposition in 2013 as Reviews Editor. Over the next few years he transformed the nature of review articles published in the journal, introducing many ‘meta-analysis’ review articles, the first of which was by Daniel Stockemer in the 52(4) issue. He grew the reviews section in a quietly efficient and effective way so that it became one of the most attractive – and well-cited – parts of the journal. We are committed to continuing our review of developments in the literature in the tradition he established.
Robert was very much a key part of the family that is Government and Opposition. He was a valued member of the board, not only providing wise words of counsel, but also (as many of the other tributes to him have pointed out) a ready wit. He was always generous with his advice, to both senior and junior scholars. His untimely death leaves behind a massive hole, not only for our journal, but also for the profession. We miss him dearly.
