Stein Rokkan (July 4, 1921 – July 22, 1979) was a Norwegian political scientist and sociologist. He was the first professor of sociology at the University of Bergen and a principal founder of the discipline of comparative politics. He founded the multidisciplinary Department of Sociology at the University of Bergen, which encompassed sociology, economics and political science and which had a key role in the postwar development of the social sciences in Norway.Ørjar Øyen: Sosiologien i Bergen, 1994, ISBN 82-578-0134-8
Career Stein Rokkan was born on the Lofoten archipelago in the far north of Norway and raised in the nearby town of Narvik. Rokkan completed his gymnasium years in 1939, and he received a magister artium in political philosophy from the University of Oslo in 1948.Dahl, R., & Lorwin, V. (1980). "Stein Rokkan." PS: Political Science & Politics 13(1), 110-111, pp. 110; Mjøset, Lars. "Stein Rokkan's Thick Comparisons." Acta Sociologica 43(4)(2000): 381-397, p. 381. Rokkan's studies were interrupted in 1943 when the German occupation closed the University of Oslo and he returned to the university after the liberation in 1945.Erik Allardt, "Stein Rokkan and the Twentieth Century Social Science", Stein Rokkan Centre for Social Studies, Bergen University Research Foundation. 2003, Working Paper 14 - 2003, p. 8.
Rokkan then turned to empirical research, and studied at Columbia University, Chicago and the London School of Economics between 1949 and 1951. In the United States, Rokkan was a Rockefeller Foundation fellow at Columbia and Chicago from 1948 to 1950.Richard Rose, Learning about Politics in Time and Space. Colchester, U.K.: ECPR, 2013, p. 61. At Columbia University, his work with Paul Lazarsfeld acquainted him with modern social research methods. At the London School of Economics, he met T. H. Marshall.Peter Flora, "Rokkan, Stein (1921–79)", pp. 744-47, International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences 2nd edition, Volume 20 (2001), p 744.
He subsequently worked at the Norwegian Institute for Social Research (ISF) from 1951 until 1957, and moved to Bergen in 1958, where he worked at the Chr. Michelsen Institute from 1958 to 1966. In 1966 he became Professor of Political Sociology at the University of Bergen.Mjøset, Lars. "Stein Rokkan's Thick Comparisons." Acta Sociologica 43(4)(2000): 381-397, p. 382.
Over the years Rokkan was three times a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, and a visiting professor at various universities (Manchester, Stanford, Geneva, the London School of Economics, the Instituts d'études politiques in Paris. He also held a permanent appointment as visiting professor at Yale University.Dahl, R., & Lorwin, V. (1980). "Stein Rokkan." PS: Political Science & Politics 13(1), 110-111, pp. 110.
Rokkan co-founded, with Shmuel Eisenstadt, Morris Janowitz, and Seymour Martin Lipset, the Committee on Political Sociology (CPS) of the International Sociological Association (ISA) in 1960 and served as its secretary from 1960 to 1970. He was vice-president of the International Sociological Association from 1966 to 1970; president of the International Political Science Association from 1970 to 1973; chairman (from 1970 to 1976) and co-founder of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR); and president of the International Social Science Council (ISSC), which was founded by UNESCO, from 1973 to 1977.Peter Flora, "Rokkan, Stein (1921–79)", pp. 744-47, International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences 2nd edition, Volume 20 (2001), p 744-45; Berntzen, Einar, Marcus Buck and Leiv Marsteintredet, "Rokkan in the Andes. Cleavages, Party Systems and the Emergence of New Leftist Parties", in Benedicte Bull (ed.), Norwegian Social Thought on Latin America. Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires: CLACSO, 2016, p. 185-66. On Rokkan's work with this the Committee on Political Sociology (CPS) of the International Sociological Association (ISA), see Richard Rose, Learning About Politics in Time and Space: A Memoir. Colchester: ECPR Press, 2013), pp. 61-63.
Awards Rokkan received many awards. He was a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, an international member of the American Philosophical Society, and a member of the Finnish and Norwegian Academies of Sciences. He received honorary degrees from the University of Uppsala in 1970, the University of Helsinki in 1971, and the University of Geneva and the University of Aarhus in 1979.Dahl, R., & Lorwin, V. (1980). "Stein Rokkan." PS: Political Science & Politics 13(1), 110-111, pp. 110-11.
Rokkan's work "Norway: Numerical Democracy and Corporate Pluralism" (1966)Stein Rokkan, "Norway: Numerical democracy and corporate pluralism." In R. A. Dahl (ed.), Political Oppositions in Western Democracies, pp. 70-115. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1966. was selected for the Norwegian Sociology Canon in 2009–2011 as one of 25 works that "had the greatest influence on sociology in Norway."
Academic research After focusing on individual voters, he turned his attention to the study of politics, especially the formation of political parties and European nation-states. Peter Flora's overview of Rokkan's oeuvre points out that the "unity of Rokkan work stems from his constant concern with the European nation-state and its democratization."Flora, Peter, "Introduction and Interpretation", pp. 1–91, in Peter Flora (ed.), State Formation, Nation-Building, and Mass Politics in Europe: The Theory of Stein Rokkan. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 4.
"Cleavage Structures, Party Systems, and Voter Alignments"
In this 1967 co-authored work with Seymour Martin Lipset,Lipset, Seymour Martin; Rokkan, Stein (1967). "Cleavage structures, party systems, and voter alignments: an introduction". In Lipset, Seymour Martin; Rokkan, Stein (eds.). Party Systems and Voter Alignments: Cross-National Perspectives. The Free Press. pp. 1–64. Rokkan introduced critical juncture theory and made a substantial contributions to cleavage theory. Peter Flora notes that the "initial analysis of the origins of cleavage structures and their transformation into party systems appeared in 1965 ... in German" in a version that "carried Rokkan's name alone."Flora, Peter, "Introduction and Interpretation", pp. 1–91, in Peter Flora (ed.), State Formation, Nation-Building, and Mass Politics in Europe: The Theory of Stein Rokkan. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 18.
Seymour Lipset and Stein Rokkan (1967) and Rokkan (1970) introduced the idea that big discontinuous changes, such as the reformation, the building of nations, and the Industrial Revolution, reflected conflicts organized around social cleavages, such as the center-periphery, state-church, land-industry, and owner-worker cleavages. In turn, these big discontinuous changes could be seen as critical junctures because they generated social outcomes that subsequently remained "frozen" for extensive periods of time.Seymour M. Lipset and Stein Rokkan, "Cleavage Structures, Party Systems, and Voter Alignments: An Introduction", pp. 1–64, in Seymour M. Lipset and Stein Rokkan (eds.), Party Systems and Voter Alignments: Cross-National Perspectives. New York, NY: Free Press, 1967, pp. 47, 50; Stein Rokkan, "Nation-Building, Cleavage Formation and the Structuring of Mass Politics", pp. 72–144, in Stein Rokkan, with Angus Campbell, Per Torsvik, and Henry Valen, Citizens, Elections, and Parties: Approaches to the Comparative Study of the Processes of Development. New York, NY: David McKay, 1970.
In more general terms, Lipset and Rokkan's model has three components:Peter Flora, "Rokkan, Stein (1921–79)", pp. 744-47, International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences 2nd edition, Volume 20 (2001), p 745-46. (1) Cleavage. Strong and enduring conflicts that polarize a political system. Four such cleavages were identified: The center–periphery cleavage, a conflict between a central nation-building culture and ethnically linguistically distinct subject populations in the peripheries. The state–church cleavage, a conflict between the aspirations of a nation-state and the church. The land–industry cleavage, a conflict between landed interests and commercial/industrial entrepreneurs. The worker–employer cleavage, a conflict between owners and workers. (2) Critical juncture. Radical changes regarding these cleavages happen at certain moments. (3) Legacy. Once these changes occur, their effect endures for some time afterwards.
Rokkan (1970) added two points to these ideas. Critical junctures could set countries on divergent or convergent paths. Critical junctures could be "sequential," such that a new critical junctures does not totally erase the legacies of a previous critical juncture but rather modifies that previous legacy.Stein Rokkan, "Nation-Building, Cleavage Formation and the Structuring of Mass Politics", pp. 72–144, in Stein Rokkan, with Angus Campbell, Per Torsvik, and Henry Valen, Citizens, Elections, and Parties: Approaches to the Comparative Study of the Processes of Development. New York, NY: David McKay, 1970, pp. 112-13.
"The Structuring of Mass Politics in the Smaller European Democracies"
In this 1968 article, Rokkan elabores the idea that a process of democratization has to overcome four institutional thresholds: The "threshold of legitimation," based on the "effective recognition of the right of petition, criticism, and demonstration against the regime."Rokkan, Stein, "The Structuring of Mass Politics in the Smaller European Democracies. A Developmental Typology." Comparative Studies in Society and History 10 (1968): 173-210, p. 180. The "threshold of incorporation," which revolved around the extension of "formal rights of participation" to opposition groups and their supporters.Rokkan, Stein, "The Structuring of Mass Politics in the Smaller European Democracies. A Developmental Typology." Comparative Studies in Society and History 10 (1968): 173-210, p. 180-81. The "threshold of representation," which involves the lowering of barriers so as "to make it easier" for "new movements" "to gain seats in the legislature."Rokkan, Stein, "The Structuring of Mass Politics in the Smaller European Democracies. A Developmental Typology." Comparative Studies in Society and History 10 (1968): 173-210, p. 1881. The "threshold of executive power," which involves the "institutionalization of cabinet responsibility to legislative majorities."Rokkan, Stein, "The Structuring of Mass Politics in the Smaller European Democracies. A Developmental Typology." Comparative Studies in Society and History 10 (1968): 173-210, p. 1881.
Conceptual Maps of Europe