Evan Luard

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David Evan Trant Luard, best known as Evan Luard (31 October 1926 – 8 February 1991), was a British politician and a respected international relations scholar. He served as a Labour MP for Oxford twice, from 1966 to 1970 and again from 1974 to 1979. He was also a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Foreign Office from 1969 to 1970 and from 1976 to 1979. Later he joined the SDP and stood for Parliament again in 1983 in Oxford West and Abingdon, though he was deselected in 1987.

Luard was born in Addington, Kent, England, and died in Richmond upon Thames, Surrey. He was educated at Felsted School and King’s College, Cambridge, where he earned a first in Modern Languages. He joined the Foreign Service in 1950, learned Chinese, and worked in Beijing from 1952 to 1954. He resigned in 1956 in protest of Britain’s Suez involvement. In 1957 he became a research fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford, focusing on China-Britain relations. He served as an Oxford City Councillor from 1958 to 1961.

As a scholar, Luard wrote extensively on international relations and sociological theory, including “hierarchy theory.” His major work, War in International Society: A Study in International Sociology, was published in 1986 (Britain) and 1987 (the United States). He also supported “community socialism” in Britain, notably Socialism without the State (1979).