List of political scientists

This is a list of notable political scientists. See the list of political theorists for those who study political theory.

See also Political Science.

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Notable political scientists

A

• Alan Abramowitz - Expert in American politics, political parties, ideological realignment, elections, and voting behavior.
• David Adamany - Public law specialist and President of Temple University
• John Aldrich - Political parties expert at Duke University, author of Why Parties?
• Graham Allison - Early proponent of the bureaucratic politics model, author of Essence of Decision, national security specialist, former Dean of Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
• Gabriel A. Almond - Originator of the culturist movement in Comparative Politics.
• Gar Alperovitz - political economist
• Nayef Al-Rodhan - philosopher, neuroscientist and geostrategist, and author of Sustainable history and the dignity of man, Emotional Amoral Egoism and Symbiotic Realism
• Ambedkar - Jurist, Economist and Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution of India
• William Anderson (political scientist) - Specialist in public administration
• Robert Axelrod - Expert on game theory and complexity theory, wrote extensively on the Prisoner's Dilemma, former president of American Political Science Association.

B

• Fatih Baja - Gar Yunis University teacher and member of the National Transitional Council in charge of political affairs.
• Benjamin Barber - proponent of participatory democracy and local governance teaching at the University of Maryland School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland College Park.
• James David Barber - developed a classification system of the personality types of American presidents, successfully predicted Richard Nixon's resignation from the office of the president
• Stephen Barber - Noted for his work on political strategy and political economy, author of Political Strategy
• Michael Barnett - Specialist in international relations
• Thomas P.M. Barnett - security strategist
• Simion Bărnuţiu - Noted for his work on political strategy in Austria and Romania.
• Larry Bartels - Democracy and voting expert at Princeton University.
• Gad Barzilai - Law and Politics, Human Rights and Politics, Communities and Law at University of Washington.
• Duncan Black - Responsible for unearthing the work of many early political scientists, including Charles Dodgson.
• Hans T. Blokland - Author of Freedom and Culture in Western Society and Modernization and its political consequences.
• Jean Blondel - Comparative politics at University of Siena, emeritus at European University Institute.
• Jean-Charles de Borda - 18th century mathematician who devised the Borda count.
• Steven Brams - Expert on voting systems.
• Ahron Bregman - Expert on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
• Ian Bremmer - Political risk specialist.
• Stephen Brooks - International relations scholar.
• Robert X. Browning - Specialist in American politics and chief archivist for C-SPAN
• Bruce Bueno de Mesquita - Pioneering game theorist with applications to international relations, author of selectorate theory, seminal book The War Trap.
• Ralph Bunche - American political scientist and diplomat who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for his late 1940s mediation in Palestine. First person of color to win the Prize].
• Walter Dean Burnham - Expert in the field of realigning elections, emeritus at University of Texas at Austin.
• Charles Burton - Expert on China and Western nations' China policy
• David Butler, pioneer of modern British political science, invented the concept of swing.

C

• George Catlin - (1896–1979) was an English political scientist and philosopher. A strong proponent of Anglo-America cooperation, he worked for many years as a professor at Cornell University.
• Ira Carmen - Co-founder of the social science subdiscipline of genetics and politics.
• Edward Hallett Carr - Noted international relations theorist.
• Alfredo Castillero Hoyos - Democracy and Human Rights. Former member of the United Nations's Human Rights Committee.
• Partha Chatterjee - Indian postcolonial critic, political and social scientist.
• John Coakley - specialist in ethnic conflict and Irish politics
• Benjamin Cohen - leader in the field of International Political Economy
• Stephen P. Cohen - Middle East specialist
• James Smoot Coleman, early Africanist, founded the UCLA African Studies Center
• Josep Colomer - Institutionalist, comparativist, and game theorist scholar.
• Marquis de Condorcet - 18th century mathematician and philosopher who contributed the often used Condorcet criterion and devised the concept of a Condorcet method.
• Timothy E. Cook - politics and media
• Satyabrata Rai Chowdhuri - International Relations, Indology at Institute of Commonwealth Studies
• Philip Converse - Public opinion scholar, author of The Nature of Belief Systems in Mass Publics.
• Clyde Coombs - Voting systems expert, designed "Coombs' method"
• Philip Cowley - Author of Revolts and Rebellions.
• Ralph W. Conant - Author of The Prospects for Revolution and Toward a More Perfect Union: The Governance of Metropolitan America.

D

• Robert A. Dahl - American politics specialist, author of On Democracy (Yale University Press)
• Daniel Deudney - Writer and associate professor at Johns Hopkins University; author of Bounding Power: Republican Security Theory from the Polis to the Global Village
• Karl Deutsch - Political scientist, focused on political communication.
• Larry Diamond - Comparative democratization specialist. Professor at Stanford University.
• Jouke de Vries - Frisian politician and professor at the university of Leiden.
• Thomas Diez - Chair in International Relations at the University of Birmingham
• John DiIulio - American politics expert at the University of Pennsylvania;
• Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (also known as Lewis Carroll) - Author of Alice in Wonderland and professor of mathematics at the University of Oxford; devised Dodgson's method of voting.
• Robert Donaldson - Professor at University of Tulsa and specialist in US/Russian foreign policy.
• Anthony Downs - has contributed to democratic theory, elections studies.
• Donald Downs - Professor at University of Wisconsin; researcher for Independent Institute
• Maurice Duverger - French lawyer and sociologist responsible for Duverger's law.
• Michael W. Doyle - International Relations theorist, author of Empires.
• Daniel Drezner - Professor at Tufts University, specializing in international politics
• Murray Dry - Professor at Middlebury College, specializing in constitutional law
• John Dryzek - Professor at the Australian National University, specializing in deliberative democracy and environmental politics.
• John Dunn - Political theorist at the University of Cambridge.
• Rand Dyck - Canadian politics expert and professor at Carleton University.
• Thomas R. Dye - Elite theory vs. Pluralism; author of The Irony of Democracy and Who's Running America?

E

• David Easton - Originator of systemic theory
• Daniel J. Elazar - American federalism and political culture scholar, founder of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, political science professor at Bar Ilan (Israel) and Temple University
• Jean Bethke Elshtain - American political philosopher focusing on gender, ethics, American democracy, and International Relations.
• Jon Elster - Norwegian social and political theorist authored works in the philosophy of social science and rational choice theory and a notable proponent of Analytical Marxism.
• Cynthia Enloe - International Relations scholar focusing on Feminism in international relations, editor for such scholarly journals as Signs and the International Feminist Journal of Politics.

F

• James D. Fearon
• Peter D. Feaver - International security expert.
• David Fellman - Constitutional scholar
• Richard Fenno - Congress scholar, author of Home Style: House Members in their Districts
• Thomas Ferguson - Politics and economics
• Samuel Finer - Academic and author on political science and history of government.
• Norman Finkelstein - Author on political science, notable for The Holocaust Industry
• Morris P. Fiorina American Politics. Proposed retrospective vote theory.
• Peter Fishburn - Operations analysis and probability theory expert.
• Keith Fitzgerald - Immigration politics expert.
• James H. Fowler - Expert on political participation, the evolution of cooperation, and social network theory (UCSD)
• Ernst Fraenkel
• Francis Fukuyama - International political theory and biopolitics.
• Archon Fung

G

• Scott Gates (academic) - Specialist in international relations
• Anthony Giddens - Noted political sociologist originator of the Third Way.
• Robert Gilpin - International political economy specialist.
• Benjamin Ginsberg - Professor at Johns Hopkins University focusing on American politics.
• Sheldon Goldman - Expert on American federal courts, Professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst
• David F. Gordon - Political risk specialist, former US Director of Policy Planning.
• Harold Foote Gosnell - Research and writings on American politics, elections, and political parties in political science.
• Colin Gray - international security
• Ted Robert Gurr - Specialist on conflict and violence
• Amy Gutmann - political theory expert; (2004–present) President of the University of Pennsylvania

H

• Jacob Hacker - Professor of Political Science at Yale University.
• Harry Harding - China specialist.
• Thomas Hare - Devised Single Transferable Vote (also known as Hare's method).
• Jeremy Harris - American Politics Specialist
• Michael Hart - British twentieth century politics specialist.
• Louis Hartz - American author of The Liberal Tradition in America (1955).
• Colin Hay - influential British political scientist
• Marc Hetherington - Author of Why Trust Matters and offered new participation paradigm.
• Christopher J. Hill - International Relations scholar, Professor and Director of the Cambridge Centre of International Studies.
• Roger Hilsman - Aide TO John F. Kennedy, Columbia University Professor, and prolific author.
• Thomas Holbrook - Public Opinion and Elections Research, author Do Campaigns Matter?
• Donald L. Horowitz - Pioneered political science models for assessing ethnic conflict.
• Michael P. Howlett - Canadian political economy.
• Mark Huddleston - former President of Ohio Wesleyan University and President of the University of New Hampshire
• Samuel P. Huntington - Author of "Clash of Civilizations" and a noted comparativist.

I

• Kancha Ilaiah - Dalit scholar and social scientist
• Ronald Inglehart - Professor at the University of Michigan and director of the World Values Survey

J

• Gary Jacobson - United States Congress expert.
• Robert Jervis - International security specialist.
• Chalmers Johnson - Comparative theorist.
• Jason A. Johnson - Campaign management
• Loch K. Johnson - United States intelligence expert.
• Charles O. Jones - Specialist in American politics
• Bertrand de Jouvenel - French political scientist. Co-founder of Mont Pelerin Society

K

• Peter Katzenstein - Professor at Cornell, former president of the American Political Science Association
• Ira Katznelson - Specialist in American and Comparative politics
• Dennis Kavanagh
• Michael Keating - Specialist in nationalism, European integration and regionalism
• Edmond Keller - Specialist in African politics
• Willmoore Kendall, noted political theorist and teacher of William F. Buckley, Jr.
• Robert O. Keohane - Interdependence theory author.
• Ben Kerkvliet - Specialist in Comparative politics
• Cornelius Kerwin - President of American University
• V.O. Key, Jr. - Elections, parties and public opinion scholar.
• Gary King - Professor at Harvard, political methodologist.
• John W. Kingdon - Specialist in American politics
• Grayson L. Kirk - Specialist in international relations and President of Columbia University
• Henry Kissinger - Former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor to President Richard M. Nixon.
• Herbert Kitschelt - author on new radical right parties
• Stephen D. Krasner - International regimes author, Director of Policy Planning under Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and professor at Stanford University.
• Michael Krassa - Elections, social context, architecture and society. Lobbyist, consultant, political sociologist and Chair of Human Dimensions of Environmental Systems department at University of Illinois at Urbana.
• Oskar Krejčí - Theory of international relations, elections and political psychology, former advisor to two Czechoslovak premieres.
• James Kurth
• Will Kymlicka - Originated the theoretical foundations of multiculturalism.

L

• Guy Laforest - Liberalism (John Locke) scholar and Quebec and Canadian politics specialist
• Harold Lasswell - Political communications, pioneered early efforts to establish the policy sciences and influential contributor to the Stages Heuristic
• Jack Layton - Former leader of the New Democratic Party of Canada, had a Ph.D in Political Science.
• Richard Ned Lebow - Noted constructivist, Cold War expert, author of Tragic Vision of Politics.
• Michael Leifer - International Relations, South Asian Studies, London School of Economics
• Arend Lijphart - Originator of consociationalism.
• Dan Lipinski - US House of Representatives (IL-D, 3rd)
• Juan Linz - Democracy specialist
• Seymour Martin Lipset - Renowned political theorist on democracy and development and parties. Taught at Stanford University.
• Ramon Llull - Discoverer of Condorcet Criterion and Borda Count
• Theodore Lowi - Major scholar of American politics at Cornell University
• Ian Lustick - State territoriality ethnic conflict and computer modelling in political science; University of Pennsylvania

M

• Niccolò Machiavelli - considered to be the originator of historically based political science. Author of The Prince
• Harvey C. Mansfield - Political philosophy (Harvard University)
• Donald Manzullo - Congressional Representative of Illinois' 16th District.
• Zeev Maoz - Arab-Israeli Conflict and international relations expert
• Jose M. Maravall - Political economist.
• David Marsh - influential British political scientist
• Juraj Marusiak - Slovak expert for Central and Eastern Europe
• David R. Mayhew - US legislative behavior and political parties expert.
• John McCormick - specialist in European Union politics.
• Michael McFaul - Russia specialist, professor and director of the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford University
• John McGarry - Ethnic conflict specialist
• John Mearsheimer - Noted international relations theorist and national security expert.
• Thierry Meyssan - Political theorist of anti-imperialism
• Samuel Merrill III - Voting behavior and party competition.
• George Michael - specialist in right-wing extremism.
• Peter Middlebrook - political economist specialising in transition economies.
• David Miller - Political Philosopher specialized in theories of social justice
• Charles Mills- Political Philosopher specialising in race relations. Author of The Racial Contract
• Terry M. Moe - Specialist in American politics
• Malcolm Moos - Former President of the University of Minnesota
• Andrew Moravcsik - Professor at Princeton University, noted liberal IR theorist, specialist on European Union politics.
• Hans Morgenthau - Noted realist, international relations specialist.
• James D. Morrow - International relations expert and game theorist.
• Michael Munger - trained as an economist, chair of political science at Duke University, running for governor of North Carolina as a Libertarian
• Clark A. Murdock - Senior Adviser, Center for Strategic and International Studies

N

• Arthur Naftalin - Specialist in American politics and former Mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Antonio Negri
• Franz Leopold Neumann - known for analysis of National Socialism.
• David Nolan (libertarian) - founder of the United States Libertarian Party
• Douglass North - Nobel laureate
• Philip Norton - British politics expert
• Pippa Norris - Harvard comparative political scientist
• Joseph Nye - "Soft power" international security specialist; Kennedy School Dean.

O

• Brendan O'Leary - Ethnic conflict specialist
• Cornelius O'Leary - Irish historian and political scientist
• Bertell Ollman - political theorist
• Mancur Olson - International political economy specialist. Expert on collective action problems. Taught at the University of Maryland, College Park.
• A.F.K. Organski - Developed power transition theory in his 1958 book "World Politics".
• Elinor Ostrom - Specialist on common pool resources, and winner of 2009 Nobel Prize for Economics.

P

• Thomas Pangle - Political theorist at University of Texas at Austin
• Michael Parenti - Political Scientist and Author
• Vilfredo Pareto
• W. Robert Parks - Former President of Iowa State University
• Gianfranco Pasquino Italian political scientist. Electoral systems, comparative politics.
• Gleb Pavlovsky - Russian political scientist.
• Nelson W. Polsby - American politics scholar.
• Karl Popper - Theorist who invented the Open Society
• Samuel L. Popkin - Early expert on rational choice theory.
• Sergei M. Plekhanov - Russia relations expert
• Adam Przeworski - Democratic transitions theorist, author of Democracy and Development. Member of the September Group.
• Robert D. Putnam - Social capital theorist, author of Bowling Alone.

R

• Douglas W. Rae - Equality theorist
• Mahesh Rangarajan - Indian political analyst and researcher with a focus on contemporary Indian politics and the politics of wildlife conservation in India
• R. A. W. Rhodes - Public administration scholar
• Condoleezza Rice - Former National Security Advisor, former Secretary of State. Professor at Stanford University.
• Floyd M. Riddick - Parliamentarian of the United States Senate from 1964 to 1974, and developer of Riddick's Senate procedure.
• William H. Riker - 20th century political scientist who applied game theory to political science.
• Patrick T. Riley - political theorist and Kant scholar
• David Rohde - Congress scholar
• Stein Rokkan - Expert on political parties and movements, founder of the Institute for Comparative Politics.
• Richard Rose - American political scientist, Professor of Politics at the University of Aberdeen
• Richard Rosecrance - International relations and political economy expert.
• Clinton Rossiter - American government and constitutional history theorist.
• John Ruggie - International relations theorist, social constructivist.
• John Rawls - Political philosopher.

S

• Paul A. Sabatier - University of California professor Dept. Environment Science and Policy, invented Advocacy Coalition Framework.
• Larry Sabato - University of Virginia professor, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, and popular political analyst.
• Scott Sagan - Stanford professor and notable critic of deterrence theory.
• Slobodan Samardžić - Research includes political ideas and institutions, federalism, constitutionalism, and European Union.
• David Samuels - Comparativist scholar of Brazilian politics and political institutions.
• Austin Sarat - Public law specialist
• Giovanni Sartori - Comparativist, expert on constitutional theory and party systems; author of Parties and Party Systems.
• E.E. Schattschneider - Early political parties expert, author of Party Government and The Semisovereign People: A Realist's View of Democracy in America
• Cliff Schecter, political commentator and operative
• Steven Schier - Specialist in American Politics
• Gesine Schwan – Political scientist, president of the Viadrina European University, and nominated twice as a candidate for the federal presidential elections of Germany.
• James C. Scott - political economist, Southeast Asia area specialist
• Hossein Seifzadeh - Iranian Professor of Political Science at University of Tehran and expert on strategic and security issues in the Middle East
• Mitchell A. Seligson - Centennial Professor of Political Science Vanderbilt University and founder of Latin American Public Opinion Project and AmericasBarometer
• Donna Shalala - Former United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
• Beth Simmons - Prominent international relations scholar focusing on human rights.
• Theda Skocpol - Comparative sociologist, former president of American Political Science Association, (Harvard University)
• Stephen Skowronek - Presidency and American political development scholar (Yale University)
• Anne-Marie Slaughter - Scholar of international relations, former president of the American Society of International Law.
• Matthew Soberg Shugart - Scholar of constitutional design and electoral systems.
• Daniel Šmihula - Specialist for international and European law and security studies (Institute of Political Science of SAS)
• Jean Edward Smith - political economist, biographer, international relations, constitutional law.
• Rogers Smith - Pulitzer Prize finalist, American politics expert at the University of Pennsylvania
• Steven S. Smith - American politics, congressional politics, Russian politics; Director, Weidenbaum Center
• Herbert A. Simon - Nobel Prize winning professor at Carnegie Mellon. A founder of artificial intelligence research, he received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago
• Peverill Squire - Americanist
• Michael Steed - British political scientist, developed the concept of "Steed swing" as distinct from "Butler swing"
• Alfred Stepan - Comaparativist, Wallace S. Sayre Professor of Government at Columbia University
• Zeev Sternhell - Theorist, political historian of political ideology.
• John G. Stoessinger - International relations theorist, author of "The Might of Nations: World Politics in our Time".
• Donald Stokes—Former Dean of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton, expert on elections.
• Herbert Storing - American politics expert.
• Susan Strange - British expert in international relations, taught at the London School of Economics
• Carol Swain - Professor of Law and Political Science at Vanderbilt University, expert of immigration and race.

T

• Rein Taagepera - Comparativist, expert on electoral systems and history of government.
• Dennis Thompson - Political theorist at Harvard University
• Virginia Tilley - specialist on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
• Charles Tilly - Professor at Columbia University, his work includes contentious politics and evolution of modern states
• Herbert Tingsten - Professor of political science at Stockholm University
• J. Ann Tickner - Feminist international relations theorist and current president of the International Studies Association (ISA).
• George Tsebelis - Game theorist notable for his general theory of Veto players and for describing the Robinson Crusoe fallacy.

V

• Stephen Van Evera - MIT international relations expert, known for proposing Offense-Defense theory
• Sidney Verba
• Eric Voegelin - Major work, "Order and History" in five volumes, he rejected the notion that political science should become a positivistic social science.

W

• Helen Wallace - International relations specialist.
• Stephen Walt - International relations specialist.
• Kenneth N. Waltz - Founder of the neorealist international relations school
• Michael Walzer - International relations, just war theory
• Alexander Wendt - Social constructivism proponent
• Darrell M. West - Specialist in electronic government, Brookings Institution director of Governance Studies
• John Henry Whyte - Specialist in Northern Irish politics
• Aaron Wildavsky - Author of "Risk and Culture"
• Bruce A. Williams - Specialist in American politics
• Danny Williams - Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador.
• James Q. Wilson - Former President of the American Political Science Association
• Woodrow Wilson - Former Professor of Politics at Princeton University and former U.S. President
• William Wohlforth - International relations scholar
• Susan L. Woodward - Professor at the Graduate Program at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Y

• Atilla Yayla – Professor of Politics, Political Economy and Political Philosophy at Gazi University in Turkey, and president of the Association for Liberal Thinking.
• Crawford Young - Noted comparativist, Africa scholar.

Z

• Fareed Zakaria - International Relations Expert
• John Zaller - Author of "The Nature and Origins of Mass Opinion," at UCLA.

See also

• Political Science
• Political Theorists
• List of people
• Oxford Handbooks of Political Science