Alan Finlayson is a British

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

and

political scientist 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 ...

. He is Professor of Political and Social Theory at The

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

in the United Kingdom, having previously taught in the Department of Political and Cultural Studies at

Swansea University Swansea University ( cy, Prifysgol Abertawe) is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. ...

, and the Department of Politics and International Relations at Queen's University Belfast. He is a leading advocate of rhetorical political analysis and of its importance for the study of British politics.

Rhetorical Political Analysis

Finlayson is a noted advocate of the development of Rhetorical Political Analysis within British Political Studies. He promotes the close study of political speech and argument on the grounds that this is a way of understanding the history and development of political ideologies. He is responsible for the website British Political Speech which archives political speeches and promotes the study of political oratory in the UK. In 2015 his essay "Proving, Pleasing and Persuading? Rhetoric in Contemporary British Politics" was awarded the Bernard Crick Prize for the best article in the journal

Political Quarterly ''The Political Quarterly'' is an academic journal of political science that first appeared from 1914 to 1916 and was revived by Leonard Woolf, Kingsley Martin, and William A. Robson in 1930. Its editors-in-chief are Ben Jackson (University of Ox ...

. In 2023 his articl
"YouTube and Political Ideologies: Technology, Populism and Rhetorical Form"
was awarded the Harrison Prize from the

Political Studies Association The Political Studies Association (PSA) is a learned society in the United Kingdom which exists to develop and promote the study of politics. It is the leading association in its field in the United Kingdom, with an international membership includi ...

for the best article in the journal

Political Studies 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 ...

Responsibilities

Finlayson was convenor of the Post-Structuralism and Radical Politics specialist group of the Political Studies Association from 1999 to 2009. He is currently Treasurer of th
Rhetoric and Politics Specialist Group
of the PSA, a member of the Rhetoric Society of America's Internationalization Task Force and of the steering group of th
Rhetoric Society of Europe
He is also a Trustee of the Barry Amiel and Norman Melburn Trust. and a Director of the left-wing publisher

Lawrence and Wishart Lawrence & Wishart is a British publishing company formerly associated with the Communist Party of Great Britain. It was formed in 1936, through the merger of Martin Lawrence, the Communist Party's press, and Wishart Ltd, a family-owned Left-wing ...

Selected bibliography

Media journal articles

* * *

Academic journal articles

* * *
Atkins, J., Finlayson, A. (2013) ‘... A 40-Year-Old Black Man Made the Point to Me’: Everyday Knowledge and the Performance of Leadership in Contemporary British Politics in Political Studies 61. pp. 161–177.

Finlayson, A. (2014) Proving, Pleasing and Persuading? Rhetoric in Contemporary British Politics in The Political Quarterly 85. pp. 428–436

References

External links

Alan Finlayson's Webpage at The University of East Anglia

Profile
at ''openDemocracy'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Finlayson, Alan Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British political philosophers British political scientists Academics of the University of East Anglia