Rosemary Okane

Biography

Higher Education         

            BA in Government, University of Essex

            MA in Political Behaviour, University of Essex

            PhD (Politics), University of Lancaster

Membership

            Political Studies Association

            International Political Science Association

Appointment

            Professor of Comparative Political Theory

                        Emeritus since 2009

Research and scholarship

While my earlier research fitted the classification of Political Science, my more recent and current research fits under the broad heading of Historical Sociology/Political Sociology.  Current research and recent publications involve the comparative political analysis of cases, both modern and historical and from the first, second and third worlds, with the aim of generating new explanatory theories with the objective of informing our understanding of politics today.

The focus of my interest continues to be on the ‘darker side of politics’ where political violence is involved (coups d’état, revolutions, reigns of terror, totalitarian regimes, terrorism and civil war).  On the brighter side, this focus also includes research into paths taken to democracy through political protest (including revolutions) and emerging after dictatorships and totalitarian regimes.

I have recently completed writing a book Rosa Luxemburg in Action: For Revolution and Democracy (Routledge, 2015), which brings these themes together.  Lessons are drawn from her revolutionary life of theory and action and examined in the light of the events that took place during her lifetime and through to the present day: revolutions, the terrorism of groups and regimes and the changes to democracy from military and totalitarian regimes.  They are lessons that prove important both in theory and in practice.