astronomy

Peter Mair

Peter Mair is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Peter Mair rather than just read about it. In short: Peter Mair (3 March 1951 – 15 August 2011) was an Irish political scientist. He was a professor of comparative politics at the European University Institute in Florence.

Key takeaways

Peter Mair belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Peter Mair to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Peter Mair from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Peter Mair (3 March 1951 – 15 August 2011) was an Irish political scientist. He was a professor of comparative politics at the European University Institute in Florence.

Career Peter Mair was born in Rosses Point, County Sligo, Ireland, and studied history and politics at University College Dublin. He continued to work as assistant professor at the University of Limerick, Strathclyde, Manchester and the European University Institute in Florence during the 1980s. In 1987 at Leiden University he gained a doctorate, which as The changing Irish party system became a standard work on the Irish party system. In 1990, he co-authored the book Identity, Competition and Electoral Availability with Stefano Bartolini. It was awarded the ISSC/Unesco Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research. He continued to work at Leiden University becoming professor of comparative politics in 1994 when he held an inaugural address entitled "Party democracies and their difficulties". In 2001 he became co-editor of the journal West European Politics. In 2005 he returned to the European University Institute to invest time in his research into democracy, indifference and populist parties. He specialized in comparative politics and specifically in the study of parties and party systems. Mair died suddenly while on holiday in Connemara with his family.

Publications

Books Mair, Peter; Bartolini, Stefano (1990). Identity, Competition, and Electoral Availability: the stabilisation of European electorates 1885–1985, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. Mair, Peter (1997). Party System Change: approaches and interpretations, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Mair, Peter; Zielonka, Jan (2002). The Enlarged European Union: Diversity and Adaptation, Frank Cass, London. Mair, Peter (2004). Political Parties and Electoral Change: Party Responses to Electoral Markets, Müller WC, Plasser F (eds.), Sage, London. Mair, Peter; Gallagher, Michael; Laver, Michael (2005). Representative Government in Modern Europe: Institutions, Parties, and Governments, McGraw-Hill, New York, 4th edition. Mair, Peter; Kopecky, Petr; Spirova, Maria (2012). Party Patronage and Party Government in European Democracies, Oxford University Press, Oxford. Mair, Peter (2013). Ruling The Void: The Hollowing Of Western Democracy, Verso Books, New York and London.

Journal articles Laver, Michael; Mair, Peter (1999). "Party Policy and cabinet portfolios in the Netherlands 1998: Results from an expert survey". Acta Politica. 34: 49–64. Mair, Peter (2007). "Political Opposition and the European Union". Government and Opposition. 42 (1): 1–17. doi:10.1111/j.1477-7053.2007.00209.x. Mair, Peter; van Biezen, Ingrid; Poguntke, Thomas (January 2012). "Going, going, ... gone? The decline of party membership in contemporary Europe". European Journal of Political Research. 51 (1): 24–56. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6765.2011.01995.x.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Peter Mair

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Peter Mair claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Peter Mair before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Peter Mair ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Peter Mair

In research: Peter Mair appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Peter Mair in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Peter Mair is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1951 births, 2011 deaths, Academic staff of Leiden University, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Peter Mair outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Peter Mair in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Peter Mair means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Peter Mair out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Peter Mair in simple terms?

Peter Mair (3 March 1951 – 15 August 2011) was an Irish political scientist. He was a professor of comparative politics at the European University Institute in Florence.

Why does Peter Mair matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Peter Mair?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Peter Mair.