[1][2] He studied at King's College in Cambridge, earning an honours degree in economics and history in 1947.
in History in 1954 before studying at Nuffield College at the University of Oxford where he obtained his PhD in 1958.
[1] In 1963, he joined the University of British Columbia's faculty, initially teaching Political Science and then History beginning in 1969 until he retired in 1991.
[2] His studies were "mostly concerned with radical forms of social critique in culturally and ethnically divided societies".
[4] His writings on politics were influenced by the works of Donald Cameron Watt, Hugh Seton-Watson and E. H.