Alan Sked
Encyclopedia
Alan Sked is Professor of International History at the London School of Economics
(LSE). He studied History at Glasgow
, then Merton College
, Oxford
. His doctoral supervisor at Oxford was A. J. P. Taylor
, who was a major influence on Sked. In particular, Sked's writings on the Habsburg Monarchy
owe much to Taylor, although their interpretations are very different. Sked himself is now a world authority on Habsburg
history but has also written standard texts on British
and Europe
an history. His books have been translated into German
, Italian
, Czech
, Portuguese
, Japanese
and Mandarin Chinese. At LSE he teaches popular courses on US and modern intellectual history as well as on the history of sex
, race and slavery
.
(EU) stance. He served for ten years (1980–1990) as Convenor of European Studies, a postgraduate MA programme at LSE, where he examined many theses on the EU and served as joint Chairman of LSE's European Research Seminar. He came to believe that the EU was corrupt and anti-democratic, and a liability to the British economy. He was a founding member of the Bruges Group
and until 1991, when he was expelled by its executive committee. This was because in November 1991 he had founded the Anti-Federalist League
(AFL), an anti-EU
political party that promised to run candidates in the 1992 general election. It did so, which Sked believed to cause the defeat at Bath of Chris Patten
, Conservative Party
Chairman, by forcing him to refuse to apologise for the poll tax
.
In 1993 Sked stood in two parliamentary by-elections, one at Newbury
, where he shared a platform with Enoch Powell
, who spoke in his support, and soon after at Christchurch. On both occasions he came fourth after the major parties (there were 19 candidates at Newbury) and encouraged by these results, the AFL changed its name in September that year to the United Kingdom Independence Party
(UKIP). Sked, however, resigned the leadership shortly after the 1997 general election, dismayed{2} at party factionalism and the growing influence of radical, far-right opinion in the party's ranks, saying that it was "doomed to remain on the political fringes". He was also firmly opposed to its plan to take up places in the European Parliament if seats should be won there. Instead, he wanted all party efforts to be concentrated on the Westminster Parliament which alone could repeal the Act of Accession of 1972. In any case, he found that UKIP was detracting too much from his academic career.
Shortly before each subsequent national election (1999, 2001 and 2004) he published articles accusing UKIP of extremism and incompetence. A few days before the 2004 election
to the European Parliament
, in which UKIP increased their representation from three to twelve seats, he criticised his former party in a national newspaper, saying, "they are racist
and have been infected by the far-right." He also went on record as saying, "UKIP is even less liberal than the British National Party
(BNP). Certainly, there is a symbiosis between elements of the parties," and, "UKIP’s MEPs
are a standing joke at Strasbourg
, where their attendance record, even by the standards of most MEPs, is relatively poor and where, according to independent research by the European Studies centre at the London School of Economics
, the three often vote in different ways on the same issue." An account of his political career can be found in his short article, 'Reflections of a Eurosceptic' published in Mark Baimbridge (ed) 'The 1975 Referendum on Europe', Vol. I: 'Reflections of the Participants', Exeter, 2007, pp. 140–147 (imprint-academic.com).
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
(LSE). He studied History at Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
, then Merton College
Merton College, Oxford
Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...
, Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. His doctoral supervisor at Oxford was A. J. P. Taylor
A. J. P. Taylor
Alan John Percivale Taylor, FBA was a British historian of the 20th century and renowned academic who became well known to millions through his popular television lectures.-Early life:...
, who was a major influence on Sked. In particular, Sked's writings on the Habsburg Monarchy
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
owe much to Taylor, although their interpretations are very different. Sked himself is now a world authority on Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
history but has also written standard texts on British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an history. His books have been translated into German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
and Mandarin Chinese. At LSE he teaches popular courses on US and modern intellectual history as well as on the history of sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
, race and slavery
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
.
Political career
He once stood as a Liberal candidate, but later rejected the party's pro-European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
(EU) stance. He served for ten years (1980–1990) as Convenor of European Studies, a postgraduate MA programme at LSE, where he examined many theses on the EU and served as joint Chairman of LSE's European Research Seminar. He came to believe that the EU was corrupt and anti-democratic, and a liability to the British economy. He was a founding member of the Bruges Group
Bruges Group
The Bruges Group is a think tank based in the United Kingdom.The group is often associated with the Conservative Party, though it is independent of it and remains an all-party organisation...
and until 1991, when he was expelled by its executive committee. This was because in November 1991 he had founded the Anti-Federalist League
Anti-Federalist League
The Anti-Federalist League was a small cross-party organisation in Britain, formed in 1991 to campaign against the Maastricht Treaty. It is mainly remembered now as the forerunner of the United Kingdom Independence Party....
(AFL), an anti-EU
EuroSceptic
EuroSceptic is the second album of British singer Jack Lucien. It was released in October 2009.Due to being an album influenced by Europop, it features songs with parts in different languages...
political party that promised to run candidates in the 1992 general election. It did so, which Sked believed to cause the defeat at Bath of Chris Patten
Chris Patten
Christopher Francis Patten, Baron Patten of Barnes, CH, PC , is the last Governor of British Hong Kong, a former British Conservative politician, and the current chairman of the BBC Trust....
, Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
Chairman, by forcing him to refuse to apologise for the poll tax
Poll tax
A poll tax is a tax of a portioned, fixed amount per individual in accordance with the census . When a corvée is commuted for cash payment, in effect it becomes a poll tax...
.
In 1993 Sked stood in two parliamentary by-elections, one at Newbury
Newbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Newbury is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It returns one Member of Parliament , elected by the first-past-the-post voting system....
, where he shared a platform with Enoch Powell
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from...
, who spoke in his support, and soon after at Christchurch. On both occasions he came fourth after the major parties (there were 19 candidates at Newbury) and encouraged by these results, the AFL changed its name in September that year to the United Kingdom Independence Party
United Kingdom Independence Party
The United Kingdom Independence Party is a eurosceptic and right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. Whilst its primary goal is the UK's withdrawal from the European Union, the party has expanded beyond its single-issue image to develop a more comprehensive party platform.UKIP...
(UKIP). Sked, however, resigned the leadership shortly after the 1997 general election, dismayed{2} at party factionalism and the growing influence of radical, far-right opinion in the party's ranks, saying that it was "doomed to remain on the political fringes". He was also firmly opposed to its plan to take up places in the European Parliament if seats should be won there. Instead, he wanted all party efforts to be concentrated on the Westminster Parliament which alone could repeal the Act of Accession of 1972. In any case, he found that UKIP was detracting too much from his academic career.
Shortly before each subsequent national election (1999, 2001 and 2004) he published articles accusing UKIP of extremism and incompetence. A few days before the 2004 election
European Parliament election, 2004
Elections to the European Parliament were held from 10 June 2004 to 13 June 2004 in the 25 member states of the European Union, using varying election days according to local custom...
to the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
, in which UKIP increased their representation from three to twelve seats, he criticised his former party in a national newspaper, saying, "they are racist
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and have been infected by the far-right." He also went on record as saying, "UKIP is even less liberal than the British National Party
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...
(BNP). Certainly, there is a symbiosis between elements of the parties," and, "UKIP’s MEPs
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament is a person who has been elected to the European Parliament. The name of MEPs differ in different languages, with terms such as europarliamentarian or eurodeputy being common in Romance language-speaking areas.When the European Parliament was first established,...
are a standing joke at Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
, where their attendance record, even by the standards of most MEPs, is relatively poor and where, according to independent research by the European Studies centre at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, the three often vote in different ways on the same issue." An account of his political career can be found in his short article, 'Reflections of a Eurosceptic' published in Mark Baimbridge (ed) 'The 1975 Referendum on Europe', Vol. I: 'Reflections of the Participants', Exeter, 2007, pp. 140–147 (imprint-academic.com).
Partial bibliography
- Sked, A. & Cook, C. (eds.) (1976) Crisis and Controversy: Essays in Honour of A.J.P. Taylor. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-18635-4.
- Sked, A. (1979) The Survival of the Habsburg Empire: Radetzky, the imperial army and the class war, 1848. London: Longmans. ISBN 0-582-50711-1.
- Sked, A. (1987) Britain's decline: problems and perspectives. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-15084-6.
- Sked, A. & Cook, C. (1993) Post-war Britain: a political history (1945–1992). (4th ed.) Harmondsworth: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-017912-7.
- Sked, A. (2001) The Decline and Fall of the Habsburg Empire, 1815–1918. (2nd ed.) London: Longman. ISBN 0-582-35666-0.
- Sked, A. (2007), Metternich and Austria: An Evaluation. (London: Palgrave MacMillan) ISBN 1-4039-9114-6
- Sked, A (2011) 'Radetzky. Imperial Victor and Military Genius', London I.B. Tauris.