# Colin Leys > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Colin_Leys > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Colin_Leys.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Leys > Source revision: 1342610969 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) British political scientist This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. 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(January 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Colin Leys FRSC Born Colin Temple Leys (1931-04-08) April 8, 1931 (age 95) Cardiff, Wales, UK Occupation Professor of political economy Children Tom, Patrick, Sally Academic background Education MA (PPE) Magdalen College, Oxford Academic work Main interests Development (in Africa), Comparative politics, British political economy, Policy (Health) **Colin Temple Leys** [FRSC](/source/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society_of_Canada) (born April 8, 1931) is a British political economist who is emeritus professor of political studies at [Queen's University, Canada](/source/Queen's_University%2C_Canada),[1] and an honorary research professor at [Goldsmiths, University of London](/source/Goldsmiths%2C_University_of_London). From 1956 to 1960 he taught at [Balliol College, Oxford](/source/Balliol_College%2C_Oxford) and then became the first Principal of [Kivukoni College](/source/Mwalimu_Nyerere_Memorial_Academy) in Dar es Salaam, before holding chairs at [Makerere University, Uganda](/source/Makerere_University%2C_Uganda), and the universities of [Sussex](/source/University_of_Sussex), [Nairobi](/source/University_of_Nairobi), [Sheffield](/source/University_of_Sheffield), and Queen's. Until his retirement from Queen's in 1996 his research focused mainly on African development. He has since worked mainly on the political economy of Britain, but from 1997 to 2010 he was co-editor with [Leo Panitch](/source/Leo_Panitch) of the *[Socialist Register](/source/Socialist_Register)*.[2] From 2000 onwards he became involved in the defence of the British [National Health Service](/source/National_Health_Service_(England)) (NHS) against successive government attempts to marketise and privatise it. With Stewart Player he co-authored two books on the NHS and was one of the founders of a respected think tank, the [Centre for Health and the Public Interest](/source/Centre_for_Health_and_the_Public_Interest). ## Early life and education This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Leys is the oldest of the six children of a social worker and a doctor. He was educated at [Edinburgh Academy](/source/Edinburgh_Academy) and [Dulwich College](/source/Dulwich_College), where he studied Latin and ancient Greek. As a teenager in [Inverness](/source/Inverness), [Scotland](/source/Scotland) he developed a lasting love of the countryside and natural history. After winning an Open Exhibition in classics at [Magdalen College, Oxford](/source/Magdalen_College%2C_Oxford), and completing his national service, Leys passed Law Moderations in 1951, switched to [Philosophy, Politics and Economics](/source/Philosophy%2C_Politics_and_Economics) (PPE), was awarded an Honorary [Demyship](/source/Demyship) in 1952, and took a first in PPE in 1953. A significant influence was membership in the 'Cole Group', an evening seminar for a small group of students run by [GDH Cole](/source/G._D._H._Cole), the Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory and a leading [Fabian](/source/Fabian_Society) and co-operator. Leys co-edited the Labour Club's newspaper, the Oxford Clarion, and in 1951, with the late [Sir Gerald Kaufmann](/source/Gerald_Kaufman), wrote an election manifesto called 'Labour Believes in Socialism'. From 1953 to 1956 he was a Junior Research Fellow in Politics at [Balliol College, Oxford](/source/Balliol_College%2C_Oxford), and spent 1955–56 researching in [Southern Rhodesia](/source/Southern_Rhodesia). Throughout these years he was mentored and greatly helped by [WJM Mackenzie](/source/W._J._M._Mackenzie), professor of Government at [Manchester](/source/University_of_Manchester).[3] ## Career From 1956 to 1960 Leys was an Official Fellow and Tutor in Politics at [Balliol](/source/Balliol_College%2C_Oxford), but took an opportunity to return to Africa in 1960 as the first Principal of Kivukoni College, established in [Dar es Salaam](/source/Dar_es_Salaam) by [Julius Nyerere](/source/Julius_Nyerere) to train Tanzanians for leading public roles after independence. In 1962, Leys moved to [Makerere University](/source/Makerere_University), Uganda, as head of a new department of political science, and subsequently served from 1969 to 1971 as head of the department of government at the [University of Nairobi](/source/University_of_Nairobi). In between these two periods in East Africa he was professor of politics at the [University of Sussex](/source/University_of_Sussex) and a Fellow of the [Institute of Development Studies](/source/Institute_of_Development_Studies), subsequently moving to [Sheffield](/source/University_of_Sheffield) from 1972 to 1975, and then to [Queen's University, Canada](/source/Queen's_University%2C_Canada), from 1976 to 1996. His last piece of field work in Africa was in Namibia in 1993–95, studying the role of [SWAPO](/source/SWAPO) in the country's post-war political economy with Professor [John S. Saul](/source/John_S._Saul) of [York University](/source/York_University), Toronto, and a team of South African and Canadian researchers. Leys's initial interest in Africa was prompted by reading the anti-racist books on Kenya written in the inter-war years by his half-uncle [Norman Leys](/source/Norman_Leys), a doctor in the colonial medical service (*Kenya*, *The Colour Bar in East Africa*, and *Last Chance in Kenya*): Colin Leys's initial field work in the Rhodesias confronted exactly the same problem. Later, in East Africa, his focus shifted to the issues of 'nation-building' in ethnically diverse ex-colonies and, finally, to the formation of new African classes, and especially proto-capitalist classes, and the different paths of national development chosen by newly independent African governments. The contribution of theorists of [neo-colonialism](/source/Neocolonialism) and [dependency](/source/Dependency_theory) such as [Frantz Fanon](/source/Frantz_Fanon) and [Andre Gunder Frank](/source/Andre_Gunder_Frank) to understanding these developments led Leys to engage more seriously with the classical [Marxist](/source/Marxism) tradition and influenced his later work on the development of advanced capitalist countries under the impact of globalisation. Other activities during these years included writing commissioned reports on the creation of universities in Mauritius, the Bahamas, and Namibia; serving on a commission on the electoral system of Mauritius; co-editing with [Leo Panitch](/source/Leo_Panitch) the annual [Socialist Register](/source/Socialist_Register); and founding and chairing the [Centre for Health and the Public Interest](/source/Centre_for_Health_and_the_Public_Interest) in London. From 1966 to 1976 he co-edited the *Journal of Commonwealth Political Studies* (subsequently *[Commonwealth & Comparative Politics](/source/Commonwealth_%26_Comparative_Politics)*). ## Major publications As of 2017, Leys has published 33 books and 68 chapters and journal papers. Among his major publications, *European Politics in Southern Rhodesia* (1959) was one of the first African "country studies". It traced the origins and underpinnings of white supremacy in the Rhodesias and correctly predicted the consolidation of racist government in Southern Rhodesia that followed the collapse of the [Central African Federation](/source/Central_African_Federation) in 1963. *Underdevelopment in Kenya: the political economy of neo-colonialism* (1975) described the emergence of the ethnically-based post-independence class system in Kenya and the constraints imposed on development by the complex dependence of the country's new capitalist class on external forces. In 1978 Leys modified his view of the limits imposed by these constraints, giving rise to a so-called "Kenya Debate". In *The Rise and Fall of Development Theory* (1996) Leys summed up three decades of work on development, arguing for the reinstatement of a focus on the political assumptions of development that had characterised the study of development before the onset of neoliberal globalisation. *Market-Driven Politics: Neoliberal Democracy and the Public Interest* (2001) tested the hypothesis that in a fully globalised capitalist economy, with free capital movement, advanced capitalist countries such as Britain would find their development constrained by global market forces in much the same way that ex-colonies had always been. ## Honours This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this message) - [Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada](/source/Fellow_of_the_Royal_Society_of_Canada) (FRSC), 1985 - Hon. D.C.L., [University of Mauritius](/source/University_of_Mauritius), 1986 - Ethel Meade Award, Ontario Health Coalition, 2011 ## Key works - *European Politics in [Southern Rhodesia](/source/Southern_Rhodesia)* (Oxford, 1959) - *Underdevelopment in Kenya; The Political Economy of Neocolonialism* ([James Currey](/source/James_Currey) and [University of California Press](/source/University_of_California_Press), 1975) - *Politics in Britain* ([Heinemann Educational Books](/source/Heinemann_Educational_Books) 1983, revised edition published by [Verso](/source/Verso) 1986 and 1989) - *The Rise and Fall of Development Theory* ([Indiana University Press](/source/Indiana_University_Press), 1996) - *Namibia's Liberation Struggle: The two-edged sword* (with [John S. Saul](/source/John_S._Saul), [James Currey](/source/James_Currey) and [Ohio University Press](/source/Ohio_University_Press), 1995) - *The End of Parliamentary Socialism* (with [Leo Panitch](/source/Leo_Panitch), Verso, 1997) - *Market-Driven Politics: Neoliberal democracy and the public interest* (Verso, 2001) - *Histories of [Namibia](/source/Namibia): Living through the liberation struggle* (edited with Susan Brown, Merlin Press, 2005) - *The Plot Against the NHS* (with Stewart Player, Merlin Press, 2011) - There is an archive of 16 files of papers relating to his research for Politicians and Policies: An essay on politics in Acholi, Uganda, 1962–1965 (East African Publishing House, 1967) held at the University of Sussex.[4] ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Department of Political Studies - Colin Leys"](http://www.queensu.ca/politics/faculty/retiredemeritus/leys.html). Retrieved 2012-02-24.{{[cite web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_web)}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_deprecated_archival_service)) 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Archives | Socialist Register"](http://www.socialistregister.com/index.php/srv/issue/archive). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Leys, Colin (2002). [*Critical Political Studies: Debates and Dialogues from the Left*](https://books.google.com/books?id=Nh43Enp6juYC&dq=biography+of+colin+Leys&pg=PR13). McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-7735-2252-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-7735-2252-7). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["University of Sussex Library Special Collections: Colin Leys Papers"](http://www.sussex.ac.uk/library/speccoll/collection_descriptions/leys.html). ## External links - [http://www.socialistregister.com/](http://www.socialistregister.com/) - [https://chpi.org.uk/](https://chpi.org.uk/) Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND WorldCat National United States France BnF data Italy Czech Republic Spain Netherlands Korea Sweden Poland Israel Other IdRef Open Library Yale LUX --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Colin Leys](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Leys) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Leys?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.