William Julius Lowthian Plowden

Who was William Julius Lowthian Plowden?

William Julius Lowthian Plowden was a British political science academic and government advisor.

Plowden's parents were both public servants and he was educated at Eton and King's College Cambridge, where he took his doctorate. He was awarded a Harkness Fellowship at the University of California in Berkeley. On his return he was briefly a staff writer for The Economist, then joined the Board of Trade and was later appointed as lecturer on government at the London School of Economics. He joined the Central Policy Review Staff, where he wrote a book with Tessa Blackstone about advising government. After a short period as an Under Secretary in the Department of Industry, he became first Director-General of the Royal Institute of Public Administration, and then Director of the UK Harkness Fellowships from 1988-91 New York, and subsequently Senior Adviser to the Harkness Fellowships in London 1991-98. With the end the original Fellowships, Plowden held a number of research professorships, was a member of the Court of Governors at the London School of Economics and continued to act as an independent consultant.