States of power: Ronan Paddison, Space and Polity

ABSTRACT

In this article, I record some thoughts on Ronan Paddison’s accomplishments as an intellectual leader-scholar-citizen who made substantive and consequential contributions to the advancement of the systematic branch of Political Geography. I first consider that portion of Ronan’s body of published research which tackles political geographical themes, commenting in particular upon his scholarship on state power, before exploring in greater detail the meaning and implications of his role as founder and Editor in Chief of the journal Space and Polity. Against the backdrop of the neoliberalising academy, Ronan Paddison’s service to Political Geography serves as a lighthouse for those who survive him: it gestures to the kinds of academic subjectivities which enable privilege to be used wisely and reminds us of the indispensable work the protean scholar performs so that academic communities might prosper.

KEYWORDS:

• Ronan Paddison
• political geography
• Space and Polity
• states

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Chris Philo for his close reading and excellent advice on an earlier version of this article. Thanks are also due to Lesley Paddison for her generous permission to use the photographs included here. Finally, I acknowledge the exceptional work undertaken by Space and Polity Production Editor Bharathi Ramachandran for patience through the production processes and commitment to excellence.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Mark Boyle is Professor of Urban Studies and Director of the Heseltine Institute for Public Policy, Practice and Place at the University of Liverpool.