Fred Halliday (1946–2010) made an enormous intellectual contribution to both the discipline of International Relations (IR) and what is usually referred to as “area studies” of the Middle East. When Halliday began his intellectual and political life, Marxism was a relatively marginal presence in both of these fields. Although Halliday later moved away from Marxist political positions, the expansion of space for the Left in these disciplines owes much to his work.

Halliday represented a type of public intellectual virtually unknown today, combining popular exposition with regional expertise and global analytical reach that was articulated, at least initially, from a position on the Marxist left. A glance at the covers of Halliday’s books, most of them published by nonacademic presses, reveals the wide currency of his ideas: for example, the Sunday Times described 1989’s Cold War, Third World, a still avowedly Marxist extended essay, as “a brilliant, tightly argued, timely study.”

Such a reception is unthinkable in the British press today, testifying to an intellectual culture long submerged beneath slews of middlebrow pap. We might criticize his later conclusions and theoretical underpinnings — so robust an intellectual pugilist as Halliday would expect nothing less — but there is still much for the Left to learn from his legacy.