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H-ASIA March 3, 2008 Fred Warren Riggs (1917-2008) ********************************************************************** From: Vincent K Pollard <pollard@hawaii.edu> Dear Colleagues, On 9 February 2008, Fred W. Riggs passed away on 9 February 2008. Dr. Riggs was Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science, University of Hawai'i at Manoa. Fred Riggs was born in Kuling, China -- in the Year of the Snake. Educated in comparative politics and classical Chinese philosophy, Fred Riggs brought insights from political science, history, sociology and public administration to illuminate politics in East and Southeast Asia and elsewhere. He studied at Nanking University in 1934-1935. Subsequently, Riggs earned his B.A. from the University of Illinois, an M.A. at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and a Ph.D. at Columbia University. During 1967-1987, he taught at the University of Hawai'i - Manoa. "Pressures on Congress: A Study of the Repeal of Chinese Exclusion" was the title of Riggs' dissertation at Columbia and also of a book by the same title (New York, King's Crown Press, 1950). "Issued under the auspices of the American Institute of Pacific Relations," _Formosa Under Chinese Nationaist Rule_ (New York: Macmillan, 1952) was his second book. Twelve years later, his _Administration in Developing Countries: The Theory of Prismatic Society_ (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1964) would become a classic. His professional articles and books been translated into more than a half-dozen languages, including Korean and Russian. The scope of Riggs' prodigious output and influence is reflected in his website at http:// webdata.soc.hawaii.edu/fredr/welcome.htm The site includes an autobiography. When I entered the Ph.D. program in political science at the UH, Fred had already retired from teaching. Riggs' work in bureacracy and presidentialism was introduced to me in Jim Dator's course on "Futures of the State." At the time, Fred Riggs then was still quite active. Thirteen years ago, I introduced Fred to a Taiwanese graduate student. In the ensuing conversation with her, Fred said that his shock at having witnessed the brutalized corpses of so many Chinese victimized by the Japanese in 1937 drove his career interests towards political science. (Riggs is acknowledged in Iris Chang's _The Rape of Nanking_.) Personally modest yet firm in his views, Fred was admirably generous with his time and professional connections. A conversation with him was not unlike a book chapter -- replete with references reminding you that there was more reading to be done! And I've always felt grateful that he included two of us as discussants in a 1995 conference on serious trans-state ethnic conflict for which he had secured funding. An obituary written by Professor Riggs' family appeared in _The Honolulu Advertiser_ on 2 March 2008. The URL is http:// www.legacy.com/honoluluadvertiser/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=104728490 That obituary will remain online for thirty days. Another obituary of Fred Riggs appears on the ISA Blog [International Studies Association], 18 February 2008. The URL is http://www.isanet.org/blog/2008/02/fred-warren-rig.html Vincent K Pollard ............................ http://www2.hawaii.edu/~pollard/Asia.html http://www2.hawaii.edu/~pollard/chculture.html ****************************************************************** To post to H-ASIA simply send your message to: <H-ASIA@h-net.msu.edu> For holidays or short absences send post to: <listserv@h-net.msu.edu> with message: SET H-ASIA NOMAIL Upon return, send post with message SET H-ASIA MAIL H-ASIA WEB HOMEPAGE URL: http://h-net.msu.edu/~asia/
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