Born in Tartu, Estonia, Taagepera fled from occupied Estonia in 1944. Taagepera graduated from high school in Marrakech, Morocco, and then studied physics in Canada and the United States. He received a B.A. Sc (Nuclear Engineering) in 1959 and a M.A. (Physics) in 1961 from the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D. from the University of Delaware in 1965. Working in industry until 1970, he received another M.A. in international relations in 1969 and moved to academia as a political scientist at the University of California, Irvine, where he stayed for his entire American career. Taagepera is professor emeritus at the University of Tartu.[2]
Political career
Taagepera served as president of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies from 1986 until 1988. In 1991, he returned to Estonia as the founding dean of a new School of Social Sciences at the University of Tartu, which merged into a full-fledged faculty in 1994, and where he also became professor of political science (1994–1998).
In 1991, he was a member of the Estonian Constitutional Assembly, and in 1992, he ran as a presidential candidate[3] against Arnold Rüütel (3rd President of the Republic of Estonia, 2001–2006), and Lennart Meri (2nd President of the Republic of Estonia, 1992–2001), who won the election. Taagepera came in third with 23% of the popular vote. Later Taagepera admitted that one of the reasons why he ran, despite having little chance to win, was to take away votes from Rüütel and thus help Meri rise to the presidency.
In 2003, Taagepera agreed to serve for half a year as the founding chairman of a new political party, Res Publica, which won the general elections that year and lead the governing coalition under Prime Minister Juhan Parts until April 2005. Taagepera tried to hold the party more or less in the middle of the spectrum (Taagepera even suggested he was centre-left politician). In 2005, Taagepera resigned his Res Publica membership, frustrated with the party's leadership style and move to the right (refer to his essay, Meteoric trajectory). In April 2006, Res Publica decided to merge with the national-conservativePro Patria Union party.
Scholarly works
Taagepera's theoretical scholarly work, which mainly deals with electoral systems, is heavily quantitative and modelling in character and strongly informed by the epistemology of his previous field, physics. The quantitative approach is also his general attitude towards political science as a scholarly discipline. He recently systematized numerous contributions in electoral systems theory into a general, quantitative theoretical framework, exposed in the volume Predicting Party Sizes: The Logic of Simple Electoral Systems (2007).
Taagepera's original epistemological and methodological approach, defined as logical quantitative modeling, is systematically presented in the recent volume Making Social Sciences More Scientific. The Need for Predictive Models (2008). Of special interest is his research in the World System hyperbolic growth.[4]
Apart from the quantitative study of electoral and party systems, Taagepera has also published several studies of Estonian and Baltic history, politics, and culture. These latter, on the other hand, are more personal and take strong normative positions. Taagepera has also written award-winning pieces of prose (most notably Livland-Leaveland in 1990. It was awarded the Tuglas Prize in the same year).
Key publications
Size and Duration of Empires: Systematics of Size, 1978 ISSN 0049-089X
Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 3000 to 600 B.C., 1978 ISSN 0049-089X
Size and Duration of Empires: Growth-Decline Curves, 600 B.C. to 600 A.D., 1979 JSTOR 1170959
Seats and Votes: The Effects and Determinants of Electoral Systems, 1989, co-author
Estonia: Return to independence, 1993
The Baltic States: Years of Dependence, 1940-1990, 2nd edn. 1993, co-author ISBN0-520-08228-1
Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities: Context for Russia, 1997 JSTOR 2600793
The Finno-Ugric republics and the Russian state, 1999
"Meteoric trajectory: The Res Publica Party in Estonia" (2006), Democratization 13(1): 78-94. the original conference paper as pdf file This essay gives a moderately candid account of Taagepera's Res Publica chairmanship and his evaluation of the party and its rise and fall.
Predicting Party Sizes: The Logic of Simple Electoral Systems, 2007 ISBN0-19-928774-0
Making Social Sciences More Scientific. The Need for Predictive Models, 2008 ISBN0-19-953466-7
Parsimonious model for predicting mean cabinet duration on the basis of electoral system (with Allan Sikk), Party Politics, 2010.
^"Awards - Karl Deutsch Award". www.ipsa.org. Retrieved 2020-10-13.
^Simon, Stephanie (1992-09-19). "Professor at UC Irvine Vying to Lead Estonia : Baltics: Rein Taagepera is one of four candidates in presidential race. The voting takes place Sunday". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-06-08.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^Taagepera, Rein (1976) Crisis around 2005 A.D.? A technology-population interaction model. General Systems 21, 137-138; Taagepera, Rein (1979) People, skills, and resources: An interaction model for world population growth. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 13, 13-30.
External links
Rein Taagepera's profile in the University of California - Irvine website
May 02, 2023
rein, taagepera, this, biography, living, person, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, adding, reliable, sources, contentious, material, about, living, persons, that, unsourced, poorly, sourced, must, removed, immediately, especially, pote. This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification Please help by adding reliable sources Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately especially if potentially libelous or harmful Find sources Rein Taagepera news newspapers books scholar JSTOR September 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message Rein Taagepera born 28 February 1933 1 is an Estonian political scientist and former politician Rein TaageperaTaagepera in 2009Born 1933 02 28 February 28 1933 age 90 Tartu EstoniaEducationNuclear Engineering University of Toronto B A Sc 1959 Physics University of Delaware Ph D 1965 AwardsJohan Skytte Prize in Political Science 2008 APSA Longley Award 2003 APSA Hallett Award 1999 Estonian National Science Prize 1999 Tuglas Prize 1990 Constantine Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award 2013 14 Chairman Res Publica PartyPreceded byNone founding chairman President Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies Contents 1 Education 2 Political career 3 Scholarly works 3 1 Key publications 4 Recognition 5 References 6 External linksEducation EditBorn in Tartu Estonia Taagepera fled from occupied Estonia in 1944 Taagepera graduated from high school in Marrakech Morocco and then studied physics in Canada and the United States He received a B A Sc Nuclear Engineering in 1959 and a M A Physics in 1961 from the University of Toronto and a Ph D from the University of Delaware in 1965 Working in industry until 1970 he received another M A in international relations in 1969 and moved to academia as a political scientist at the University of California Irvine where he stayed for his entire American career Taagepera is professor emeritus at the University of Tartu 2 Political career EditTaagepera served as president of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies from 1986 until 1988 In 1991 he returned to Estonia as the founding dean of a new School of Social Sciences at the University of Tartu which merged into a full fledged faculty in 1994 and where he also became professor of political science 1994 1998 In 1991 he was a member of the Estonian Constitutional Assembly and in 1992 he ran as a presidential candidate 3 against Arnold Ruutel 3rd President of the Republic of Estonia 2001 2006 and Lennart Meri 2nd President of the Republic of Estonia 1992 2001 who won the election Taagepera came in third with 23 of the popular vote Later Taagepera admitted that one of the reasons why he ran despite having little chance to win was to take away votes from Ruutel and thus help Meri rise to the presidency In 2003 Taagepera agreed to serve for half a year as the founding chairman of a new political party Res Publica which won the general elections that year and lead the governing coalition under Prime Minister Juhan Parts until April 2005 Taagepera tried to hold the party more or less in the middle of the spectrum Taagepera even suggested he was centre left politician In 2005 Taagepera resigned his Res Publica membership frustrated with the party s leadership style and move to the right refer to his essay Meteoric trajectory In April 2006 Res Publica decided to merge with the national conservative Pro Patria Union party Scholarly works EditTaagepera s theoretical scholarly work which mainly deals with electoral systems is heavily quantitative and modelling in character and strongly informed by the epistemology of his previous field physics The quantitative approach is also his general attitude towards political science as a scholarly discipline He recently systematized numerous contributions in electoral systems theory into a general quantitative theoretical framework exposed in the volume Predicting Party Sizes The Logic of Simple Electoral Systems 2007 Taagepera s original epistemological and methodological approach defined as logical quantitative modeling is systematically presented in the recent volume Making Social Sciences More Scientific The Need for Predictive Models 2008 Of special interest is his research in the World System hyperbolic growth 4 Apart from the quantitative study of electoral and party systems Taagepera has also published several studies of Estonian and Baltic history politics and culture These latter on the other hand are more personal and take strong normative positions Taagepera has also written award winning pieces of prose most notably Livland Leaveland in 1990 It was awarded the Tuglas Prize in the same year Key publications Edit Size and Duration of Empires Systematics of Size 1978 ISSN 0049 089X Size and Duration of Empires Growth Decline Curves 3000 to 600 B C 1978 ISSN 0049 089X Size and Duration of Empires Growth Decline Curves 600 B C to 600 A D 1979 JSTOR 1170959 Seats and Votes The Effects and Determinants of Electoral Systems 1989 co author Estonia Return to independence 1993 The Baltic States Years of Dependence 1940 1990 2nd edn 1993 co author ISBN 0 520 08228 1 Expansion and Contraction Patterns of Large Polities Context for Russia 1997 JSTOR 2600793 The Finno Ugric republics and the Russian state 1999 Meteoric trajectory The Res Publica Party in Estonia 2006 Democratization 13 1 78 94 the original conference paper as pdf file This essay gives a moderately candid account of Taagepera s Res Publica chairmanship and his evaluation of the party and its rise and fall Predicting Party Sizes The Logic of Simple Electoral Systems 2007 ISBN 0 19 928774 0 Making Social Sciences More Scientific The Need for Predictive Models 2008 ISBN 0 19 953466 7 Parsimonious model for predicting mean cabinet duration on the basis of electoral system with Allan Sikk Party Politics 2010 Recognition EditTaagepera received the American Political Science Association s Hallett 1999 and Longley 2003 Awards as well as the Estonian National Science Prize Social Science Category 1999 the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science 2008 and the Karl Deutsch Award 2016 References Edit Rein Taagepera s profile in the University of Tartu website Awards Karl Deutsch Award www ipsa org Retrieved 2020 10 13 Simon Stephanie 1992 09 19 Professor at UC Irvine Vying to Lead Estonia Baltics Rein Taagepera is one of four candidates in presidential race The voting takes place Sunday Los Angeles Times Retrieved 2021 06 08 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint url status link Taagepera Rein 1976 Crisis around 2005 A D A technology population interaction model General Systems 21 137 138 Taagepera Rein 1979 People skills and resources An interaction model for world population growth Technological Forecasting and Social Change 13 13 30 External links EditRein Taagepera s profile in the University of California Irvine website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Rein Taagepera amp oldid 1147174088, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
