There are four books of Susan’s that are still in print. They’ve been reprinted countless times, and two now have new introductions, written for them as recently as 2015. I had the great honour and pleasure of publishing three of the four. I could see then that they were hugely important contributions to the field and they did not disappoint. 

The books do have to be seen in context, as does her life – back in the days before we had the cacophony of ideas swirling around as we have today. Indeed her ideas were so original and fresh, seemingly coming from left field – not politically left – she gave no succor to left nor right.

Today much of what she warned against has come to pass. Some criticise her for not having predicted everything that’s happened since the books were published, but soothsaying has never been a precise art. Suffice to say, she got it right most of the time.

The value of Susan’s works, however, rests in the insights and tools she provided, now so embedded in scholarship and policy that we hardly notice them. IPE as a field that she fought so hard to establish now has its rightful place in academia and contributes to our daily understanding of the world.

Susan was more than just a great scholar, she was also a true friend to so many, and we all enjoyed her mischievous sense of humour. Her legacy lives on.

Frances Pinter is a business and social entrepreneur with a strong background in publishing and education: www.pinter.org.uk