The call for 2022 nominations is now open!
Deadline: 28 March 2022
To nominate, please email a formal nomination letter to prizes@ecpr.eu. Nominations can be made by scientific institutions (including Universities and Departments, Research Centres, Academies, disciplinary unions or associations and Research Institutions), and should come via the head of the organization / department.
About the Prize
The Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research is presented by the International Science Council, the University of Bergen and the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR). Thanks to the generosity of the University of Bergen it comprises an award of EUR 5,000 and is awarded on an annual basis.
Stein Rokkan was a pioneer of comparative political and social science research, renowned among other things for his ground-breaking work on the nation state and democracy. A brilliant researcher and a professor at the University of Bergen where he spent most of his career, Rokkan was also president of the International Social Science Council (ISSC) (which merged with the International Council for Science (ICSU) in 2018 to form the International Science Council), and one of the founders of the European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR).
The prize is open to works in comparative studies from all social science disciplines. It is given to a submission that is deemed by the jury to be a very substantial and original contribution in comparative social science research.
Past winners
| 1981 | Manfred G. Schmidt | Wohlfahrtsstaatliche Politik unter bürgerlichen und sozialdemokratischen Regierungen: Ein internationaler Vergleich |
| 1983 | Jens Alber | Vom Armenhaus zum Wohlfahrtsstaat: Analysen zur Entwicklung der Sozialversicherung in Westeuropa (From the Poor House to the Welfare State: Analysis of the Development of Social Insurance in Western Europe), “Einige Grundlagen und Begleiterscheinungen der Entwicklung der Sozialausgaben in Westeuropa, 1949-1977” (“Some Causes and Consequences of Social Security Expenditure Development in Western Europe, 1949-1977”) |
| 1986 | Louis M. Imbeau [fr] | Donor Aid: The Determinants of Development Allocations to Third World Countries |
| 1988 | Charles C. Ragin | The Comparative Method: Moving beyond Qualitative and Quantitative Strategies |
| 1990 | Stefano Bartolini / Peter Mair | Identity, Competition and Electoral Availability: The Stabilisation of European Electorates 1885-1985 |
| 1992 | Kaare Strøm | Minority Government and Majority Rule |
| 1996 | Kees van Kersbergen | Social Capitalism: A Study of Christian Democracy and the Welfare State |
| 1998 | Robert Rohrschneider | Learning Democracy: Democratic and Economic Values in Unified Germany |
| 2000 | Eva Anduiza-Perea | Individual and Systemic Determinants of Electoral Abstention in Western Europe |
| 2002 | Patrick Le Galès | European Cities: Social Conflicts and Governance |
| 2004 | Daniele Caramani | The Nationalization of Politics: The Formation of National Electorates and Party Systems in Western Europe |
| 2006 | Milada Anna Vachudova | Europe Undivided: Democracy, Leverage, and Integration after Communism |
| 2008 | Cas Mudde | Populist Radical Right Parties in Europe |
| 2009 | Robert E. Goodin / James Mahmud Rice / Antti Parpo / Lina Eriksson | Discretionary Time: A New Measure of Freedom |
| 2010 | Beth A. Simmons | Mobilizing for Human Rights: International Law in Domestic Politics |
| 2011 | James W. McGuire | Wealth, Health, and Democracy in East Asia and Latin America |
| 2012 | Pepper D. Culpepper | Quiet Politics and Business Power: Corporate Control in Europe and Japan |
| 2013 | Dorothee Bohle / Béla Greskovits | Capitalist Diversity on Europe’s Periphery |
| 2014 | Christian Welzel | Freedom Rising: Human Empowerment and the Quest for Emancipation |
| 2015 | Marius Busemeyer | Skills and Inequality: Partisan Politics and the Political Economy of Education Reforms in Western Welfare States |
| 2016 | Stanislav Markus | Property, Predation, and Protection: Piranha Capitalism in Russia and Ukraine |
| 2017 | Abel Escribà-Folch / Joseph Wright | Foreign Pressure and the Politics of Autocratic Survival |
| 2018 | Rafaela M. Dancygier | Dilemmas of Inclusion: Muslims in European Politics |
| 2019 | Andreas Wimmer | Nation Building: Why Some Countries Come Together while Others Fall Apart |
| 2020 | Jeffrey M. Chwieroth / Andrew Walter | The Wealth Effect: How the Great Expectations of the Middle Class Have Changed the Politics of Banking Crises |
| 2021 | Ran Hirschl | City, State: Constitutionalism and the Megacity |
Honourable mentions
| 2021 | Michael Bruter and Sarah Harrison | Inside the mind of a voter |
| 2020 | Siniša Malešević | Grounded Nationalisms: A Sociological Analysis |
| 2019 | Alisha C. Holland Anna K. Boucher and Justin Gest | Forbearance as Redistribution: The Politics of Informal Welfare in Latin America Anna K. Boucher and Justin Gest |