Before his election, he was Professor of British and Irish Studies at the University of Tübingen, Germany.

[1][2] As a historian, Harvie was the Shaw-Macfie Lang Fellow and a tutor at Edinburgh University 1966–1969.

He is the author of several books on topics including Scottish history, nationalism, North Sea oil, the British political novel and European regionalisation.

He co-wrote a pamphlet in favour of the Scottish Assembly along with Gordon Brown in 1979, and co-edited a history of Labour politics in Scotland.

He also writes for Guardian Unlimited's online 'comment is free' site, and he is a contributor to the Scottish Review of Books.