John Curtice

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John Curtice (2016)

Sir John Kevin Curtice FRSA FRSE FBA (born 10 December 1953) is a political scientist who is currently Professor of Politics at the University of Strathclydeand Senior Research Fellow at NatCen Social Research. He is particularly interested in electoral behaviour and researching political and social attitudes. He took a keen interest in the debate for Scottish independence.

Curtice was born on 10 December 1953. He was educated at Truro School and Magdalen College, Oxford, where he read politics, philosophy and economics, and later transferred to Nuffield College as a postgraduate.

Curtice serves as President of the British Polling Council, vice-chair of the Economic and Social Data Service's Advisory Committee and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Elections, the Executive Committee of the British Politics Section of the American Political Science Association, and the Policy Advisory Committee of the Institute for Public Policy Research. He was formerly a Fellow at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study and a member of the steering committee of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems Project.

The BBC have made frequent use of Curtice during broadcast coverage of general elections in the United Kingdom, including his accurate predictions of the results in 2005, 2010 and 2015. He has picked up a strong following on social media, and was mentioned frequently on Twitter during the 2017 election, though he shuns this attention, adding "I've no wish to become a media celebrity".

Curtice addressed the European Association of Political Consultants at their London conference in 2018.

Curtice was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1992 and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2004. In 2014 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy, the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and social sciences. Curtice was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to the Social Sciences and Politics.

Curtice is married with one daughter and is a Professor in Politics at the University of Strathclyde.

• British Social Attitudes: the 24th report (ed. with A. Park, K. Thomson, M. Phillips, M. Johnson and E. Clery), London: Sage, 2008
• British Social Attitudes: the 25th report (ed. with A. Park, K. Thomson, M. Phillips, and E. Clery), London: Sage, 2009
• Has Devolution Worked? (ed. with B. Seyd), Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2009
• Revolution or Evolution?: The 2007 Scottish Elections, (with D. McCrone, N. McEwen, M. Marsh and R.Ormston), Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009
• British Social Attitudes: the 26th report (ed. with A. Park, K. Thomson, M Phillips, and E. Clery), London: Sage, 2010.
• British Social Attitudes: the 27th report (ed. with A. Park, E. Clery and C. Bryson), London: Sage,2010

• ‘Where have all the readers gone? Popular newspapers and Britain’s political health’ (with A. Mair), in British Social Attitudes: the 24th report
• ‘How Firm are the Foundations? Public Attitudes towards the Union in 2007’ in T. Devine (ed.), Scotland and the Union 1707–2007, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2008.
• ‘Is there an English backlash? Reactions to devolution’, in British Social Attitudes: the 25th Report
• ‘Do people want choice and diversity of provision in public services?’ (with O. Heath), in British Social Attitudes: the 25th Report
• ‘Who represents us best? One member or many?’ (with W. Phillips Shivley), in H.-D. Klingemann (ed.), The Comparative Study of Electoral Systems, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
• ‘Neither Representative nor Accountable: First-Past-The-Post in Britain’, in B. Grofman, A. Blais and S. Bowler (eds), Duverger’s Law of Plurality Voting, New York: Springer, 2009.
• ‘Do Devolved Elections Work?’, in C. Jeffrey and J. Mitchell (eds.), The Scottish Parliament 1999–2009: The First Decade, Edinburgh: Luath Press for the Hansard Society, 2009.
• ‘England Awakes? Trends in National Identity in England’ (with A. Heath), in F. Bechhofer and D. McCrone (eds), National Identity, Nationalism and Constitutional Change, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009
• ‘Devolution, the SNP and the Electorate’, in G. Hassan (ed.), The Modern SNP: From Protest to Power, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009
• 'Individualisation and the Decline of Class Identity' (with A. Heath and G. Elgenius), in M. Wetherell (ed.), Identity in the 21st Century, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
• 'Introduction' (with B. Seyd) in Has Devolution Worked?
• 'The Citizens' Response' (with B. Seyd) in Has Devolution Worked?
• 'At the Ballot Box' in Has Devolution Worked?
• 'Conclusion: Has Devolution Worked?' (with B. Seyd) in Has Devolution Worked?
• 'Thermostat or Weather Vane: How the Public has reacted to New Labour Government', in British Social Attitudes: 26th report
• 'Duty in decline: Who still feels a duty to vote?' (with S. Butt) in British Social Attitudes: 26th report
• ‘Resentment or Contentment: Attitudes towards the Union ten years on’ (with R. Ormston) in British Social Attitudes: 27th report
• ‘A tale of two crises: banks, MPs’ expenses and public opinion’ (with A. Park) in British Social Attitudes: 27th report
• ‘Policy Divergence: Recognising Difference or Generating Resentment?’, in G. Lodge and K. Schmuecker (eds), Devolution in Practice 2010, London: IPPR, 2010
• ‘Appendix 2: An Analysis of the Results (with S. Fisher and R. Ford), in D. Kavanagh and P. Cowley, The British General Election of 2010, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
• ‘Elections as Beauty Contests: Do the Rules Matter?’(with S. Hunjan) in K. Aarts, A. Blais and H. Schmitt (eds), Political Leaders and Democratic Elections, Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 2011