For Ian Taylor (1969-2021)

Abstract

This issue is dedicated to the memory of Professor Ian Christopher Taylor, coeditor of African Security, who passed away on 22 February 2021. Ian was an astonishingly accomplished and highly regarded scholar of international relations and African political economy. Perhaps as insignia of the times, we, the coeditors of African Security, never met Ian in person. We knew him as a scholar and as a towering figure connected to the journal. His ties with African Security preceded our involvement with the journal, but he was clearly one of the foundational pillars undergirding this publication. We were shocked to find he was only 52 because his reputation, scholastic accomplishments and global image depicted that of a much more senior academic. Ian packed a lot into his 52 years on earth. African Security has now lost two of its founder fathers, as Professor Tim Shaw, a senior colleague and board member, noted a day after Ian’s death. Colonel James Hentz, our founding editor-in-chief, who was chair of political science at the Virginia Military Institute, died in 2018. One of our board members, Dr. Giulia Piccolino, received gracious professional support from Ian during her doctoral studies. Her comment exemplifies the quality of the human, Ian Taylor. Dr. Piccolino notes that Ian ‘was not just a very successful academic, but also a generous colleague who genuinely supported early career researchers.’ Our Canadian colleague, Professor Andrew Cooper, from the University of Waterloo, was the external examiner on Ian Taylor’s doctoral thesis. Professor Cooper described Ian as “a unique academic, combining a stellar work ethic with such an impressive quality and quantity of critical insights on Africa and IPE.” He went on to further describe Ian as a “very special personality, highly ethical in his lifestyle and adventurous both in his type of research projects and his willingness to take on an extensive range of field work activities.” Ian Taylor, literally at the peak of an astonishing career, was author or editor of at least 12 significant books. He published over 80 contributions in leading refereed journals. His work on China and Africa was pioneering in many respects. His work was disseminated in at least 55 countries around the globe. He also held multiple visiting professorships, mentored many PhDs and had an academic productivity level that was easily and breathlessly world class and cutting edge. However, the most relevant fact is that Ian Christopher Taylor was an outstanding human being, who was widely respected and well loved. Dr. Brautigam, in a moving tribute to Ian Taylor, wrote that Ian possessed an energy that was nothing short of “meteoric,” and that, as it turned out, his life too “was like a shooting star that explodes in a burst of color, light and energy” and AFRICAN SECURITY 2021, VOL. 14, NO. 1, 1–3 https://doi.org/10.1080/19392206.2021.1935568