A leading political scientist whose work has received global acclaim has been accorded a major international honour for her lifetime contributions to the discipline of political studies.
Pippa Norris, Paul F. McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at Harvard Kennedy School, ARC Laureate Fellow and Professor of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney, and founder and director of the Electoral Integrity Project, was awarded the Sir Isaiah Berlin Prize by the Political Studies Association (PSA) at a recent ceremony in London.
"Professor Norris has been awarded the Sir Isaiah Berlin Prize for the significant contribution she has made as a major political thinker and in helping to shape academic research on democracy, electoral integrity, and populism – all issues that are relevant now more than ever,” said the PSA Awards jury.
Norris’s research compares public opinion and elections, political institutions and cultures, gender politics, and political communications in many countries worldwide. She is the fourth most cited political scientist worldwide, according to Google Scholar, and is the second most downloaded political scientist in the Social Science Research Network (SSRN).
“Naturally I was delighted to learn that the PSA had honoured me with the Sir Isaiah Berlin award. The PSA has been seminal in my early career and it will always be an enduring part of my intellectual home,” said Norris.
“It is also a particular honour to be given this award given the high regard I have always felt for the life and legacy of Sir Isaiah Berlin, and his passionate defence of liberty and value pluralism, which is more important now than ever.”
The award for Norris was announced on the same day that the Electoral Integrity Project won the International Institutional Engagement Award at the 15th International Electoral Awards, held in Jordan.