Stein Rokkan
Stein Rokkan was a Norwegian political scientist and sociologist. He was a professor in comparative politics at the University of Bergen.Career and influence
Stein Rokkan was born on the Lofoten archipelago in the far north of Norway and raised in the nearby town of Narvik. Originally educated as a philosopher, Rokkan collaborated in the 1940s and 1950s as the assistant of Arne Næss. Later on, his interest turned towards the study of politics, especially the formation of political parties and European nation-states. It was during this period that he collaborated with Seymour Martin Lipset. He is also known as a pioneer of using computer technology in the social sciences. He wrote on cleavage, comparative history, party systems and Catalan nationalism, among other topics.
Rokkan is the creator of a series of models for state and nation formations in Europe. He was president of the International Political Science Association from 1970 to 1973, president of the International Social Science Council, which was founded by UNESCO, from 1973 to 1977, vice-president of the International Sociological Association from 1966 to 1970, and chairman and co-founder of the European Consortium for Political Research.Legacy
The Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research has been awarded by the ISSC, the ECPR and the University of Bergen since 1981.
The University of Bergen has a Stein Rokkan Centre for Social Studies and a Stein Rokkan Building at street address Nygårdsgaten 5.Selected works
