Kenneth C. Wheare Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Kenneth Clinton Wheare (1907–1979) was an Australian-born political scientist who spent his career in Great Britain and for most of his adult life was associated with Oxford University. He is best known for his work on the English constitution and on federalism.

Wheare received a bachelor of arts (honors) in Greek and philosophy from the University of Melbourne. He was selected as a Rhodes Scholar (1929) and studied at Oriel College of Oxford University, earning a “first class” baccalaureate degree in philosophy, politics, and economics (1932). He won a masters (1935) and a doctor of letters degree (1957) from Oxford.

Wheare’s professional association with Oxford began immediately after he completed his final examinations in 1932, when he was offered a position as a tutor in politics. The many positions he subsequently held there included Gladstone Professorship of Government and Public Administration at All Soul’s College, rector of Exeter College, vice chancellor of the university from 1964 to 1966 (the first Australian to hold the post), and a Fellow of All Soul’s College (1973–1979).

From 1967 to 1971, Wheare was president of the British Academy. In 1972 he was appointed chancellor of the University of Liverpool. He also served as an academic advisor to the Interim Committee of the Australian National University (1949) and chaired the Rhodes Trust (1962–1969). He was appointed a member of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (CMG) in 1953 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1966.

Wheare was an adviser to political leaders on constitutions, notably working with the National Convention of Newfoundland from 1946 to 1947.The convention was established to decide the future of the British colony, which since 1934 had been governed by a British-appointed government commission. He was also an advisor to the Central African Federation from 1951 to 1953.Wheare believed that new constitutions came about because people wanted to make a “clean break” with the institutions that had governed them in the past.

Wheare was one of the leading experts on the English constitution. His first book, The Statute of Westminster (1933), explained how the statute granted the dominions legislative equality with the Parliament in Great Britain. His subsequent works discussed the evolution of the colonies into independent states. He also analyzed the workings of the British government, describing it as a “parliamentary bureaucracy.”

Wheare was also a leading authority on federalism. His book Federal Government (1946) went through four editions. According to Wheare, federal states were regimes where each level of government had its own sphere of authority, and one of the principal challenges was to ensure coordination rather than conflict between the national and subnational levels of government.

Bibliography:

Wheare, Kenneth C. The Statute of Westminster and Dominion Status. 5th ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1953.
Government by Committee: An Essay on the British Constitution. Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon, 1955.
The Constitutional Structure of the Commonwealth. Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon, 1960.
Federal Government. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1964.
Modern Constitutions. 2nd ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1966.
2nd ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1968.
Maladministration and Its Remedies. London: Stevens, 1973.

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