# Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science

The Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science (Swedish: Skytteanska priset) was established in 1995 by the Johan Skytte Foundation at Uppsala University. The foundation itself goes back to the donation in 1622 from Johan Skytte (1577–1645), politician and chancellor of the university, which established the Skyttean professorship of Eloquence and Government.
The prize, 500,000 Swedish kronor (approximately $52,000) is to be given "to the scholar who in the view of the Foundation has made the most valuable contribution to political science". Since its creation in 1995, the Johan Skytte Prize has garnered a prestigious reputation within the social science community, earning the nickname "the Nobel Prize for Political Science." According to reputation surveys conducted in 2013–2014 and 2018, it is the most prestigious international academic award in political science.

## Recipients of the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science

| Year | Recipient | Country | Rationale | Affiliation |
| 1995 | Robert A. Dahl (1915–2014) | United States | "for his penetrating analysis of democratic theory, characterized by deep learning and breadth of mind, combined with epochal empirical studies of the actual functioning of representative government". | Professor emeritus, Yale University |
| 1996 | Juan José Linz (1926–2013) | Spain Germany United States | "for his global investigation of the fragility of democracy in the face of the authoritarian threat, characterized by methodological versatility and historical and sociological breadth". | Professor, Yale University |
| 1997 | Arend Lijphart (b. 1936) | United Kingdom Netherlands United States | "for his theoretically and empirically pathbreaking research on the function of consensus in democratic politics in divided as well as in homogeneous societies". | Professor, University of California, San Diego |
| 1998 | Alexander L. George (1920–2006) | United States | "for his pathbreaking analysis of statecraft, its possibilities and limits, performed with great sensitivity for the importance of judgement, reasoned argumentation and responsible leadership in foreign policy decision-making". | Professor, Stanford University |
| 1999 | Elinor Ostrom (1933–2012) | United States | "for her profound, empirical as well as theoretical, analysis of the nature of collective action and rational choice". | Professor, Indiana University Bloomington |
| 2000 | Fritz W. Scharpf (b. 1935) | Germany | "for having analysed key concepts of political science with theoretical clarity and empirical thoroughness during an era of transnational change". | Professor, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne |
| 2001 | Brian Barry (1936–2009) | United Kingdom United States | "for his profound contribution to normative political theory performed with passion as well as clarity in the grand tradition from the Enlightenment." | Professor, Columbia University, London School of Economics |
| 2002 | Sidney Verba (1932–2019) | United States | "for his penetrating empirical analysis of political participation and its significance for the functioning of democracy." | Professor, Harvard University |
| 2003 | Hanna Pitkin (1931–2023) | Germany United States | "for her pathbreaking theoretical work, predominantly on the problem of representation." | Professor emerita, University of California, Berkeley |
| 2004 | Jean Blondel (1929–2022) | France | "for his outstanding contribution to the professionalisation of European political science, both as a pioneering comparativist and an institution builder" | Professor, European University Institute, Florence |
| 2005 | Robert Keohane (b. 1941) | United States | "for his significant contribution to our understanding of world politics in an era of interdependence, globalisation and terrorism." | Professor, Princeton University |
| 2006 | Robert D. Putnam (b. 1941) | United States | "for his theory of the social capital." | Professor, Harvard University |
| 2007 | Theda Skocpol (b. 1947) | United States | "for her visionary analysis of the significance of the state for revolutions, welfare and political trust, pursued with theoretical depth and empirical evidence." | Professor, Harvard University |
| 2008 | Rein Taagepera (b. 1933) | Estonia United States | "for his profound analysis of the function of electoral systems in representative democracy". | Professor, University of Tartu and professor emeritus, University of California, Irvine |
| 2009 | Philippe C. Schmitter (b. 1936) | United States | "for his path-breaking work on the role of corporatism in modern democracies, and for his stimulating and innovative analysis of democratization". | Professorial fellow, European University Institute, Florence |
| 2010 | Adam Przeworski (b. 1940) | Poland United States | "raising the scientific standards regarding the analysis of the relations between democracy, capitalism and economic development." | Professor, New York University |
| 2011 | Ronald Inglehart (1934–2021) | United States | "for contributing innovative ideas about the relevance and roots of political culture in a global context, transcending previous mainstream approaches of research." | Professor, University of Michigan |
| 2011 | Pippa Norris (b. 1953) | United Kingdom United States | "for contributing innovative ideas about the relevance and roots of political culture in a global context, transcending previous mainstream approaches of research." | Professor, Harvard University |
| 2012 | Carole Pateman (b. 1940) | United Kingdom United States | "for in a thought-provoking way challenging established ideas about participation, sex and equality." | Professor emeritus, University of California, Los Angeles |
| 2013 | Robert Axelrod (b. 1943) | United States | "for profoundly having changed our presumptions about the preconditions for human cooperation.” | Professor, University of Michigan |
| 2014 | David Collier (b. 1942) | United States | "for his contribution to the conceptual development and the re-thinking of qualitative methods in Political Science." | Professor, University of California, Berkeley |
| 2015 | Francis Fukuyama (b. 1952) | United States | “for breath-taking learnedness, clarity and courage thrown new light over the growth of modern political order.” | Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University |
| 2016 | Jon Elster (b. 1940) | Norway | “for incisive, penetrating, and unceasing drive to examine and reexamine that which explains human behavior.” | Robert K. Merton Professor in Social Sciences, Columbia University |
| 2017 | Amartya Sen (b. 1933) | India | for his multifaceted achievement that “combines insights into human vulnerability with knowledge about the potential of democratic political power to redress and relieve this deprivation.” | Thomas W. Lamont University Professor, Harvard University |
| 2018 | Jane Mansbridge (b. 1939) | United States | for “having shaped our understanding of democracy in its direct and representative forms, with incisiveness, deep commitment and feminist theory.” | Charles F. Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Values, Harvard University |
| 2019 | Margaret Levi (b. 1947) | United States | for "having laid the foundations of our understanding of why citizens accept state coercion, by combining theoretical acumen and historical knowledge." | Director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) and professor of political science, Stanford University |
| 2020 | Peter J. Katzenstein (b. 1945) | Germany United States | for “furthering the understanding of how history, culture, and norms shape economies, as well as national and global security policy.” | Walter S. Carpenter, Jr. Professor of International Studies, Cornell University |
| 2021 | David D. Laitin (b. 1945) | United States | for his “original and objective explanation of how politics shapes cultural strategies in heterogeneous societies." | James T. Watkins IV and Elise V. Watkins Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford University |
| 2022 | Robert E. Goodin (b. 1950) | Australia United States | for his impressive work in which he “with acuity and success endeavored to blend political philosophy with empirical political science to increase the understanding of how decent and dignified societies can be shaped.” | Professor emeritus, Australian National University |
| 2023 | Martha Finnemore (b. 1959) | United States | "for having formulated and empirically demonstrated the fruitfulness of constructivism, thus renewing and deepening the understanding of international politics." | University Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University |
| 2023 | Alexander Wendt (b. 1958) | United States | "for having formulated and empirically demonstrated the fruitfulness of constructivism, thus renewing and deepening the understanding of international politics." | Mershon Professor of International Security and Professor of Political Science, Ohio State University |
| 2024 | Jürgen Habermas | Germany United States | "for having constantly reminded us, theoretically and empirically, that the very lifeblood of democracy depends on human capacity and willingness to respect others by means of communicative action and on that basis to engage in critical argumentation and discourse.” | |