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Lord Skidelsky
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''Chancellor, the University is delighted to honour one of the country's most distinguished historians and biographers, Robert, Lord Skidelsky. But Professor Skidelsky is more than an historian; he is also an accomplished political economist who has used his knowledge of economic theory and policy to enlighten our understanding of his special period - British political and economic history of the 1930s. A graduate of the University of Oxford, and a visiting scholar at distinguished American universities, he is currently Professor of Political Economy at the University of Warwick, having been previously Professor of International Studies at the same university. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Fellow of the British Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. |
Lord Skidelsky received
his Doctor of Letters honoris causa in March 1997. The text which
follows is taken from the formal address given at the graduation
ceremony.
We do not look upon the decade immediately prior to the Second World War with any pride or affection. Economic depression and weak political leadership have been brilliantly chronicled in Lord Skidelsky's major works, including Politicians and the Slump and the authoritative biography of one of the least attractive men of that age - Sir Oswald Mosley. Lord Skidelsky's unsurpassed skills as a biographer, however, are brought to bear most fruitfully in his work on one of the few truly outstanding figures of that sorry decade (or any decade) - Lord Keynes. In the two volumes so far published, Lord Skidelsky has produced a comprehensive, immensely readable and scholarly reconstruction of the life and thought of one of the giants of the twentieth century. To capture the intellectual life of such an eclectic figure requires deep knowledge of philosophy, ethics, economics, and politics as well as the historical background. Readers of Lord Skidelsky on Keynes will acquire a knowledge of all these disciplines which they would not get from the standard textbooks. In reading these they would certainly experience the intellectual excitement which he effortlessly evokes. Lord Skidelsky's immersion in his subject is complete - he lives in Tilton House, which was Keynes's home.
Lord Skildesky's interests are not confined to formal scholarship. He has been active in public life in this country: in education - he was for many years a prominent member of the Schools Examination and Assessment Council - and, most importantly, in intellectual debate about economic and social affairs. He has been concerned to understand the world after the fall of communism (which is the subject of one of his recent books) and the demise of many socialist ideals that were once the common currency of intellectual life. He has been active in promoting the idea of the social market economy - a form of economic organisation which demonstrates the compatibility of the rigour of the free market with some of our more refined social sentiments. He established the Social Market Foundation, which has produced a number of innovative papers on the connections between economics, welfare policy and the ideals of citizenship and community. The Foundation is now branching out into the international sphere.
Lord Skidelsky is not merely a great historian, he is also one of our foremost thinkers on economic and cultural affairs. We look forward not only to his final volume on Lord Keynes but also to many more informed and original works on contemporary themes.
Chancellor, I call upon you to confer upon Robert, Lord Skidelsky, the degree of Doctor of Letters, Honoris Causa".