My friend Barry Jones, who has died aged 77, was a distinguished scholar of politics and government who had a big influence on the course of Welsh devolution.

Barry was born in Whitford, north Wales, one of two sons of Eluned (nee Mathews), a maths teacher, and Frank Jones, a headteacher. He was educated at Rhyl grammar school and after graduation from Swansea University took an MA in politics at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. On his return to the UK, he taught at St Mary’s College in Twickenham, south-west London, before starting a long career at the University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology, later merged with Cardiff University.

There had been distinguished historians of Wales before, but Barry was one of the first to take contemporary Welsh politics as a topic for serious academic study. His publications, from the 1970s until the 2000s, spanned a crucial era in Welsh politics, including the nationalist revival, the battles over devolution and the establishment of the National Assembly for Wales.

Barry was an activist in the radical home rule tradition, a social democrat and a firm believer in Welsh self-government, not always an easy combination. As a member of the Labour party for many years, he championed the cause of Welsh devolution against strong opposition, and was influential in the devolution campaigns of the 1970s through to the 90s. He was secretary of the Yes campaign in the 1979 referendum and helped to keep the movement alive in the 80s, a bleak time for home-rulers. Despite his deep convictions, he was never a strong partisan, but rather a public intellectual who could be credited with shaping attitudes across the political spectrum. He was an engaging personality and a lively conversationalist and always had something new, interesting and, frequently, provocative, to say.

In 1999 he was appointed the first director of the Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University, which rapidly became an important source of ideas and expertise. His wider interests included nationalism and devolution across the UK, and regional government within the European Union, as well as the politics of the Labour party. He retired in 2005 as reader in politics.

Barry was married to Moonyeen Stafford-Mayer from 1962 to 1984, when they separated. He is survived by their daughters, Sian and Ceri, and grandchildren, Caitlin, Cameron and Rhiannon, and by his brother, Lynton.