Political Theory Prize

Nominations open: 22 November 2024
Deadline for nominations: Thursday 13 March 2025

Submitting a nomination 

To nominate, please use the Nomination Form which will display at the top of this page during the nomination period.

Important note: Two academic nominators are required for this prize. They must be based in two different countries, and must be affiliated with ECPR Member institutions. Scholars will need to liaise with each other, as one individual will submit the nomination on behalf of both.

Nominations must include, as three separate PDF files:

• PDF 1: Book as a PDF file
• PDF 2: Formal nomination letter from first academic, including book title and year of publication, and the rationale for nominating the book
• PDF 3: Formal nomination letter from second academic, including book title and year of publication, and the rationale for nominating the book 

Nominations of early career scholars are encouraged.

Eligibility

• The prize is open to scholars in political science and related fields (for example: political theory, political philosophy), regardless of institutional membership.
• This must be the candidate's first book in English in political theory.
• Entries must be published in the two years before the year of award (i.e. in 2023 and 2024, for the 2025 prize application).
• Each book can only be nominated for this prize once.

Exclusions

• Self-nominations are not accepted.
• Nominations from publishers and agencies are not accepted.
• Members of the ECPR Executive Committee, any ECPR Editors are not eligible for this prize during their terms in office.
  • Members of the Executive Committee become eligible after three buffer years, and editors after one. The requirement that a work have been published in the previous two years may be waived in this case. 

Prize Jury

Eligible nominations are reviewed by a jury comprised of a member of the Executive Committee acting as Chair, a member from each founding Political Theory Standing Group, a convenor of the Methodology section and a senior editor from the journal Contemporary Political Theory (CPT). 

2024 Jury 

The full jury for the 2024 jury comprised:

• Ladislav Cabada, Chair, ECPR Executive Committee Member
• Diana Popescu, University of Nottingham, Representative from the Standing Group on Political Theory
• Verena Erlenbusch-Anderson, Syracuse Unviersity, Representative from Journal of Contemporary Political Theory
• Avia Pasternak, University of Toronto, Representative from the Standing Group on International Political Theory
• Zachary Vereb, University of Mississippi, Representative from the Standing Group on Kantian Political Thought
• Nahshon Perez, Bar Ilan University, Representative from convenors of the ECPR General Conference Section on Methodology of Political Theory

The 2025 jury will be confirmed soon.

2024 - Tejas Parasher

University of California, Los Angeles

Radical Democracy in Modern Indian Political Thought

Cambridge University Press, 2023

Read the News article

2023 - Maxime Lepoutre

University of Reading

Democratic Speech in Divided Times

Oxford University Press, 2021

Read the News article

2022 - Sinja Graf

University of Reading

The Humanity of Universal Crime: Inclusion, Inequality, and Intervention in International Political Thought

Oxford University Press, 2021

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2021 – Chiara Cordelli

University of Chicago

The Privatized State

Princeton University Press, 2020

Read the News article

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