Ron Johnston
| Author | Justin Fisher,Charles Pattie |
| Published date | 01 February 2021 |
| Date | 01 February 2021 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1478929920984107 |
| Subject Matter | Tribute |
https://doi.org/10.1177/1478929920984107
Political Studies Review
2021, Vol. 19(1) 127
© The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/1478929920984107
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Ron Johnston
Justin Fisher1 and Charles Pattie2
This issue of Political Studies Review features an extended review article by Ron Johnston
on electoral reform. The article reveals much about Ron – his encyclopaedic knowledge
of elections and election systems, and his ability to draw on many academic disciplines:
in this case, geography, political science and history. He was a pioneering interdiscipli-
nary scholar.
Ron sadly passed away in May 2020. He was a giant not only in his home discipline
of geography but also in political science. His intellectual range was vast and made
important and fundamental contributions in many areas. In political science alone, he
demonstrated the electoral importance of candidate spending when the focus of many was
on the national campaign; demonstrated with admirable clarity the electoral biases in
constituency boundaries, and injected much-needed empirical analysis into debates about
electoral reform – the subject of this article. As a human geographer, Ron made major
contributions not only through his work on electoral geography but also in political geog-
raphy more widely and on the social geography of cities. He was also one of the foremost
historians of academic geography – another outlet for his extraordinary intellectual
breadth. In 1999, he was awarded Prix Vautrin-Lud, the geographers’ Nobel. His work
was widely used and admired not just by academics but also by policy-makers and legis-
lators around the world.
Despite his magnificent academic achievements, Ron was always keen to promote and
boost the work of others. He was a regular attender of academic conferences – not just to
present his own work, but to listen to that of others and to make helpful contributions.
And all those who met him found him to be warm, friendly and always ready to engage
in humorous conversation. Ron loved to crack a joke, and he brightened many a confer-
ence with his witticisms. He was also as happy talking about his other passions such as
bell-ringing (on which he wrote several books) and his beloved Swindon Town.
In addition to all this brilliant work, Ron was intensely collegial. At every University
at which he worked, he played a full role. And he helped and mentored countless col-
leagues in the profession – we are both extremely grateful recipients of his wisdom,
encouragement and tremendously useful advice. We – and many others – cannot thank
him enough. Ron’s legacy, beyond his outstanding academic achievements, are countless
colleagues who have gone on to achieve a great deal across a range of disciplines, in part
because of Ron’s encouragement. Few of us will achieve anything like as much as Ron.
But every single one of us has reason to be grateful that he helped us along the way.
984107PSW0010.1177/1478929920984107Political Studies ReviewFisher and Pattie
other2020
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1Brunel University, London, UK
2University of Sheffield, UK
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