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Ian Shapiro

PhD, JD, MPhil
Sterling Professor of Political Science and Professor in the Institute for Social and Policy Studies and of Global Affairs and of Management

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Ian Shapiro, PhD, JD, MPhil

Biography

Ian Shapiro is Sterling Professor of Political Science at Yale University, where he also serves as Henry R. Luce Director of the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies. He has written widely and influentially on democracy, justice, and the methods of social inquiry. A native of South Africa, he received his J.D. from the Yale Law School and his Ph.D from the Yale Political Science Department where he has taught since 1984 and served as chair from 1999 to 2004. Shapiro is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a past fellow of the Carnegie Corporation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. He has held visiting appointments at the University of Cape Town, Keio University in Tokyo, and Nuffield College, Oxford. His most recent books are The Real World of Democratic Theory; Containment: Rebuilding a Strategy against Global Terror; The Flight From Reality in the Human Sciences; and Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Fight Over Taxing Inherited Wealth (with Michael Graetz). His current research concerns the relations between democracy and the distribution of income and wealth.

Education & Training

  • JD
    Yale Law School (1987)
  • PhD
    Yale University (1983)
  • MPhil
    Yale University (1980)
  • BS
    Bristol University (1978)

Activities

  • Two-part conference co-organized with Kahreen Tebeau
    Bridgewater Lodge, Cape Town, South Africa 2006
    "After Apartheid: The Second Decade"
  • "The state of democratic theory"
    Cape Town, South Africa 2006
    Political science workshop
  • "Power and democracy." Keynote lecture Copenhagen, May 2001
    Copenhagen, Denmark 2001
    Danish and Norwegian Democracy and Power Project
  • "Optimal deliberation?"
    Oxford, United Kingdom 2000
    Deliberating about Deliberative Democracy
  • Visiting Fellow
    Oxford, England, United Kingdom 1999
    Research and Scholarly Work
  • "Competing models of democracy"
    Moscow, Russia 1997
    Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences
  • "Democracy in the Modern age"
    Moscow, Russia 1997
    "Democracy in the Modern age"
  • “Democratic theories of justice”
    Moscow, Russia 1997
    “Democratic theories of justice”
  • Visiting Scholar, Dept. of Political Science
    Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa (1997-1998)
    Research and scholarly work
  • Visiting Fellow, Nuffield College
    Oxford, England, United Kingdom 1995
    Research and scholarly work
  • "Harnessing the profit motive: Education and housing in the new South Africa."
    Cape Town, South Africa 1994
    Conference on South Africa in Transition

Honors & Recognition

AwardAwarding OrganizationDate
Evelyn Miller-Barstow Prize for the study of politicsUniversity of Bristol, England1977

Professional Service

OrganizationRoleDate
American Society for Political and Legal PhilosophyVice President2013 - 2015
Yale UniversityCommittee on Academic Resources2012 - 2014
UNDPProject on “Accelerating Access to Justice” in developing countries2005 - 2006
The Future of American Democracy FoundationCommittee Member2005 - Present
Public television series on “Great Negotiations in HistoryBoard Member2005 - Present
The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at YaleDirector2004 - 2014
APSALeo Strauss prize committee, for the best PhD dissertation in political philosophy2004
Yale School of ManagementProvost’s Standing Advisory and Appointments Committee2002 - 2010
Committee on Cooperative ResearchMember2001 - 2003
American Political Science Association's annual meetingNormative Political Theory2001
American Political Science AssociateionCouncil Member1995 - 1997
American Society for Political and Legal PhilosophyCouncil Member1991 - 1999

Departments & Organizations