R. Kenneth Carty

Professor Emeritus
location_on Buchanan C423
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About

Ken Carty is Professor Emeritus of Political Science and a former Brenda & David McLean Chair in Canadian Studies (2005-08). He served as Head of the Department (1996-2001, 2006-07) and Director of the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions (2007-09). During 2005 he was a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Peter Wall Institute of Advanced Studies.

Educated at the University of New Brunswick (BSc in Forestry), at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and at Queen’s University where he did a PhD in Comparative Politics, Carty spent his academic career at UBC, and in 2006 he was awarded the Dean of Arts Award, presented to the UBC Faculty of Arts’ outstanding member.

In 2002 he was the President of the Canadian Political Science Association.

In 2013 he was the recipient of the Mildred Schwartz Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Political Science Association.

In 2019 he was elected Fellow of the Irish Political Studies Association

Carty’s scholarship has been primarily concerned with political parties and electoral systems and he has published widely (14 authored / edited books and over 80 refereed articles / book chapters) on politics in Europe, Canada and Australia. He has been active in supporting scholarly publication serving for twenty years (1990-2009) as the Chair of UBC Press, Canada’s leading publisher of social science research, and, from 2009-2015, as a senior editor of the European Consortium for Political Research sponsored Comparative Politics book series published by Oxford University Press.

Carty has been active as a consultant to both national and provincial Royal Commissions of Inquiry, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Ombudsman, and to the Chief Electoral Officers of both Canada and British Columbia. He was appointed by the Speakers of the House of Commons as a member of the 2002-03, and then the 2022-03, federal Electoral Boundary Commissions for British Columbia. During 2003-04 served as the Director of Research for the BC Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform, an innovative exercise in citizen engagement. He subsequently served as a senior consultant to Citizen Assemblies in The Kingdom of the Netherlands and the province of Ontario as well as to the Constitutional Convention of Ireland.

Carty’s community service has included membership of the Board of Governors of the Vancouver School of Theology from 1997-2007 (chair 2001-06) and as Trustee for the Vancouver School of Theology Foundation (2014-2020). He currently chairs the Trustees of the UBC Faculty Pension Plan.


Publications

Book length studies include:

  • Party and Parish Pump: Electoral Politics in Ireland
    (subsequent Irish edition – Electoral Politics in Ireland)
  • Grassroots Politicians: Party Activists in British Columbia (with D. Blake & L. Erickson),
  • Canadian Political Parties in the Constituencies
    (in French as: L’action des partis politiques dans les circonscriptions au Canada)
  • Rebuilding Canadian Party Politics (with W. Cross & L. Young)
  • Politics is Local: National Politics at the Grassroots (with M. Eagles)
  • When Citizens Decide: Lessons from Citizen Assemblies on Electoral Reform (with P. Fournier, H. van der Kolk, A. Blais & J. Rose)
  • Big Tent Politics: The Liberal Party’s Long Mastery of Canada’s Public Life
  • The Government Party: Political Dominance in Democracy

Additional Description


R. Kenneth Carty

Professor Emeritus
location_on Buchanan C423
file_download Download CV

About

Ken Carty is Professor Emeritus of Political Science and a former Brenda & David McLean Chair in Canadian Studies (2005-08). He served as Head of the Department (1996-2001, 2006-07) and Director of the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions (2007-09). During 2005 he was a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Peter Wall Institute of Advanced Studies.

Educated at the University of New Brunswick (BSc in Forestry), at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and at Queen’s University where he did a PhD in Comparative Politics, Carty spent his academic career at UBC, and in 2006 he was awarded the Dean of Arts Award, presented to the UBC Faculty of Arts’ outstanding member.

In 2002 he was the President of the Canadian Political Science Association.

In 2013 he was the recipient of the Mildred Schwartz Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Political Science Association.

In 2019 he was elected Fellow of the Irish Political Studies Association

Carty’s scholarship has been primarily concerned with political parties and electoral systems and he has published widely (14 authored / edited books and over 80 refereed articles / book chapters) on politics in Europe, Canada and Australia. He has been active in supporting scholarly publication serving for twenty years (1990-2009) as the Chair of UBC Press, Canada’s leading publisher of social science research, and, from 2009-2015, as a senior editor of the European Consortium for Political Research sponsored Comparative Politics book series published by Oxford University Press.

Carty has been active as a consultant to both national and provincial Royal Commissions of Inquiry, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Ombudsman, and to the Chief Electoral Officers of both Canada and British Columbia. He was appointed by the Speakers of the House of Commons as a member of the 2002-03, and then the 2022-03, federal Electoral Boundary Commissions for British Columbia. During 2003-04 served as the Director of Research for the BC Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform, an innovative exercise in citizen engagement. He subsequently served as a senior consultant to Citizen Assemblies in The Kingdom of the Netherlands and the province of Ontario as well as to the Constitutional Convention of Ireland.

Carty’s community service has included membership of the Board of Governors of the Vancouver School of Theology from 1997-2007 (chair 2001-06) and as Trustee for the Vancouver School of Theology Foundation (2014-2020). He currently chairs the Trustees of the UBC Faculty Pension Plan.


Publications

Book length studies include:

  • Party and Parish Pump: Electoral Politics in Ireland
    (subsequent Irish edition – Electoral Politics in Ireland)
  • Grassroots Politicians: Party Activists in British Columbia (with D. Blake & L. Erickson),
  • Canadian Political Parties in the Constituencies
    (in French as: L’action des partis politiques dans les circonscriptions au Canada)
  • Rebuilding Canadian Party Politics (with W. Cross & L. Young)
  • Politics is Local: National Politics at the Grassroots (with M. Eagles)
  • When Citizens Decide: Lessons from Citizen Assemblies on Electoral Reform (with P. Fournier, H. van der Kolk, A. Blais & J. Rose)
  • Big Tent Politics: The Liberal Party’s Long Mastery of Canada’s Public Life
  • The Government Party: Political Dominance in Democracy

Additional Description


R. Kenneth Carty

Professor Emeritus
location_on Buchanan C423
file_download Download CV
About keyboard_arrow_down

Ken Carty is Professor Emeritus of Political Science and a former Brenda & David McLean Chair in Canadian Studies (2005-08). He served as Head of the Department (1996-2001, 2006-07) and Director of the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions (2007-09). During 2005 he was a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Peter Wall Institute of Advanced Studies.

Educated at the University of New Brunswick (BSc in Forestry), at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, and at Queen’s University where he did a PhD in Comparative Politics, Carty spent his academic career at UBC, and in 2006 he was awarded the Dean of Arts Award, presented to the UBC Faculty of Arts’ outstanding member.

In 2002 he was the President of the Canadian Political Science Association.

In 2013 he was the recipient of the Mildred Schwartz Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Political Science Association.

In 2019 he was elected Fellow of the Irish Political Studies Association

Carty’s scholarship has been primarily concerned with political parties and electoral systems and he has published widely (14 authored / edited books and over 80 refereed articles / book chapters) on politics in Europe, Canada and Australia. He has been active in supporting scholarly publication serving for twenty years (1990-2009) as the Chair of UBC Press, Canada’s leading publisher of social science research, and, from 2009-2015, as a senior editor of the European Consortium for Political Research sponsored Comparative Politics book series published by Oxford University Press.

Carty has been active as a consultant to both national and provincial Royal Commissions of Inquiry, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Ombudsman, and to the Chief Electoral Officers of both Canada and British Columbia. He was appointed by the Speakers of the House of Commons as a member of the 2002-03, and then the 2022-03, federal Electoral Boundary Commissions for British Columbia. During 2003-04 served as the Director of Research for the BC Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform, an innovative exercise in citizen engagement. He subsequently served as a senior consultant to Citizen Assemblies in The Kingdom of the Netherlands and the province of Ontario as well as to the Constitutional Convention of Ireland.

Carty’s community service has included membership of the Board of Governors of the Vancouver School of Theology from 1997-2007 (chair 2001-06) and as Trustee for the Vancouver School of Theology Foundation (2014-2020). He currently chairs the Trustees of the UBC Faculty Pension Plan.

Publications keyboard_arrow_down

Book length studies include:

  • Party and Parish Pump: Electoral Politics in Ireland
    (subsequent Irish edition – Electoral Politics in Ireland)
  • Grassroots Politicians: Party Activists in British Columbia (with D. Blake & L. Erickson),
  • Canadian Political Parties in the Constituencies
    (in French as: L’action des partis politiques dans les circonscriptions au Canada)
  • Rebuilding Canadian Party Politics (with W. Cross & L. Young)
  • Politics is Local: National Politics at the Grassroots (with M. Eagles)
  • When Citizens Decide: Lessons from Citizen Assemblies on Electoral Reform (with P. Fournier, H. van der Kolk, A. Blais & J. Rose)
  • Big Tent Politics: The Liberal Party’s Long Mastery of Canada’s Public Life
  • The Government Party: Political Dominance in Democracy
Additional Description keyboard_arrow_down