Preface

As most Oxford Handbooks, this volume has a history spanning several years. Still, the present volume could claim to be a special case of co-edited volumes. It emerged from two different and independent proposals that arrived at Dominic Byatt’s desk at OUP at about the same time: one from Robert Elgie and Ludger Helms and the other from Rudy Andeweg and Ferdinand Müller-Rommel. Initiated by Dominic, the four of us met in London in May 2016 to explore whether there was sufficient common ground to join forces. We immediately agreed on the content of a joined volume and felt that an expert on political executives in the field of International Relations was still missing. Robert suggested to add Juliet Kaarbo to the editorial team. What followed could be considered a case study on how close scholarly collaboration can possibly get. Apart from countless email exchanges between the co-editors and our contributors, the volume took shape and was advanced step by step through a series of personal meetings in Lüneburg, Germany, which were generously funded by Leuphana University’s Centre for the Study of Democracy, and its former director, Ferdinand Müller-Rommel.

This volume is dedicated to our fellow co-editor and dear friend Robert Elgie who sadly passed away tragically just a few weeks before completing our joint work on the volume. Robert will be deeply missed by all of us. His special role within the editorial team can be captured from the fact alone that he is the only scholar who contributed more than one original chapter to this Handbook. While not being planned originally, Robert volunteered to invest his talent, time, and energy to close suddenly occurring gaps that we felt should not be part of a volume designed to serve a whole generation of scholars of executive politics. The three original chapters authored or co-authored by Robert bear witness to a scholar at the very peak of his time. They are a testimony to how much Robert would have had to give over the years to come.

The four editorial meetings, held in Lüneburg between late 2016 and early 2019, provided us with the unique opportunity to develop also a personal relationship with each other that reaches well beyond collegial professionalism. Those meetings proved a rare privilege of spending some time together. During these meetings we got to know Robert even better as he talked about his other interests, such as music and cricket. His trademark ironic smile and good-natured humour, but also his loyalty and reliability made him a wonderful colleague and co-editor. With hindsight, the time we spent with Robert gains a deeper meaning if looked at in the awareness of his tragic loss. Robert was in many ways the backbone of the whole project, until he was torn out of life from the very heart of our community. We will miss him and his seminal contributions to political science.

Rudy Andeweg (Leiden), Ludger Helms (Innsbruck), Juliet Kaarbo (Edinburgh), and Ferdinand Müller-Rommel (Lüneburg)

January 2020