The field of Sikh and Punjab studies lost a senior member in political scientist Paul Wallace, who passed away peacefully in his sleep on February 22 at his home in Columbia, Missouri. Professor Wallace had a distinguished career spanning over five decades as an internationally-renowned expert on Indian politics, particularly Sikh and Punjab politics, at the University of Missouri starting in 1964 until his formal retirement as professor emeritus in 2005. In the field of Sikh and Punjab studies, he was fondly known as one of the “Missouri twins”—the other being the late historian Professor N. G. “Jerry” Barrier who also taught at Missouri during the same period of time. Professor Wallace’s career included several dozen research/professional trips to India including Punjab, the last one only a few weeks before his passing.
Paul Wallace was born in Los Angeles, California in 1931. He graduated from the University of California—Berkeley in 1953 with an undergraduate degree in political science, and subsequently served in the US Army during the Korean War. He returned to Berkeley to complete a M.A. in 1957, and a Ph.D. in political science in 1966. Paul Wallace’s dissertation was one of the first major academic studies on Punjab politics, particularly focusing on how internal factionalism within the state’s two major political parties (the Akali Dal and Congress) helped integrate a variety of societal interest groups into the emerging democratic political process in India. It emphasized the essential role “factions” play within political parties in aggregating interests and deepening democratic vibrancy in postcolonial settings.
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