Christian Bay (1921 – May 8, 1990) was a Canadian

political theorist A political theorist is someone who engages in constructing or evaluating political theory, including political philosophy. Theorists may be academics or independent scholars. Here the most notable political theorists are categorized by their ...

and the chairman of the

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

department at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexander Cameron Rutherfor ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He formed the ideological basis for the

Caucus for a New Political Science The Caucus for a New Political Science (CNPS) was first founded in 1967 as a caucus, and then a formal section, within the American Political Science Association (APSA). APSA is the official professional organization of political scientists in th ...

of the APSA and an important critique of Behavioral Politics. He is associated with

Normative Normative generally means relating to an evaluative standard. Normativity is the phenomenon in human societies of designating some actions or outcomes as good, desirable, or permissible, and others as bad, undesirable, or impermissible. A norm in ...

Political Science and the

New institutionalism New institutionalism (also referred to as neo-institutionalist theory or institutionalism) is an approach to the study of institutions that focuses on the constraining and enabling effects of formal and informal rules on the behavior of individuals ...

approach of politics. Bay was born in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

and received his Ph.D. at the

University of Oslo The University of Oslo ( no, Universitetet i Oslo; la, Universitas Osloensis) is a public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the highest ranked and oldest university in Norway. It is consistently ranked among the top universit ...

in 1959, with his book ''The Structure of Freedom'' serving as his doctoral dissertation. This work was a psychological study of the quest for freedom and later that year earned him the

Woodrow Wilson Foundation The Woodrow Wilson Foundation was an educational non-profit created in 1921, organized under the laws of New York, for the "perpetuation of Wilson's ideals" via periodic grants to worthy groups and individuals. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the chai ...

's 1959 book award. Bay went on to teach in the United States at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

and the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

before becoming chairman of the political science department at the University of Alberta in Edmonton in 1966. He joined the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

faculty in 1972 and retired in 1988. He died on May 8, 1990 of pneumonia at Toronto Western Hospital.

References

External links

Christian Bay archival papers
held at th
University of Toronto Archives and Records Management Services
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bay, Christian 1921 births 1990 deaths Canadian political scientists Norwegian political scientists Norwegian emigrants to Canada Stanford University faculty University of Alberta faculty University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty University of Oslo alumni University of Toronto faculty Norwegian expatriates in the United States 20th-century political scientists