The University was very sorry to hear of the death of Clive H Church, Emeritus Professor of European Studies.
Clive joined Kent from the University of Lancaster in 1981 as Senior Lecturer in European Studies, affiliated with the then European Studies unit in the School of European Culture and Languages. He was promoted to a professorship in 1992 and became a member of the Department (now School) of Politics and International Relations in 1996. Upon his retirement in 2003, he was appointed Emeritus Professor.
A historian by background, Clive became a leading scholar of Swiss history and politics and of European integration. Among his numerous works are The Politics and Government of Switzerland (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Understanding the European Constitution (Routledge, 2006 – with David Phinnemore), A Concise History of Switzerland (Cambridge University Press, 2013 – with Randolph Head), and Political Change in Switzerland (Routledge, 2016).
He was an active member of the Channel Tunnel Research Unit from 1986-1993, a co-founder of the Kent Centre for Europe (a Jean Monnet Centre), which was in operation from 2000-2010, and of the Centre for Swiss Politics, in operation from 2003-2016. He remained very much active past his retirement and was planning to write on external views of Swiss politics at the time of his death.
Outside academia, Clive was much involved in the local community. He was the founder of the Alliance of Canterbury Residents’ Associations, an organisation which is still important and active today. He was also a key member of the Campaign for Democracy in the Canterbury district, where his understanding of political issues and processes made a valuable contribution. As the same time he was active in Thanington, the part of Canterbury where he lived, writing a history of the area and contributing to the parish council.
He will be fondly remembered by all those who knew him.
We express our deepest condolences to his daughters, Hilary and Joanna, and partner, Clare, and their families.
Dr Paolo Dardanelli | Deputy Head of School of Politics and IR
Picture shows: Clive with his granddaughter, Claudia