Search People Result | Academic Influence

Find the most influential people in 24 academic disciplines and numerous subdisciplines

Find famous and important people related to your research. This is an excellent tool for research papers, topic papers, and building a bibliography. Using our influence-based algorithm, our rankings synthesize data from Wikipedia, Wikidata, Semantic Scholar, and CrossRef.

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List of the most influential people in Political Science,

#1501

Wm. Theodore de Bary

Wm. Theodore de Bary

#13210

Overall Influence

1919 - 2017 (98 years)

William Theodore de Bary was an American Sinologist and scholar of East Asian philosophy who was a professor and administrator at Columbia University for nearly 70 years. De Bary graduated from Columbia College in 1941, where he was a student in the first year of Columbia's famed Literature Humanities course. He then briefly took up graduate studies at Harvard University before leaving to serve in American military intelligence in the Pacific Theatre of World War Two. Upon his return, he resumed his studies at Columbia, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1953.

#1502

James W. Fesler

#81317

Overall Influence

1911 - 2005 (94 years)

James William Fesler was an American political scientist who was an expert in public administration and a professor at Yale University. Fesler was born in Duluth, Minnesota in 1911, completed his bachelor's degree at the University of Minnesota, and then completed a PhD in political science at Harvard University. He was a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1935 to 1951, and at Yale University from 1951 until his retirement in 1979.

#1503

David Welch

#42270

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (71 years)

Charles David Welch is an American diplomat who served as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs in the United States Department of State from 2005 through 2008. On August 14, 2008, in Tripoli, Welch signed the U.S.-Libya Comprehensive Claims Settlement Agreement paving the way for the restoration of full diplomatic and commercial relations between the two countries after a 25-year break. Welch is currently the president of the Europe, Africa & Middle East division of Bechtel.

#1504

James Pinkerton

James Pinkerton

#30888

Overall Influence

1958 - Present (66 years)

James "Jim" P. Pinkerton is an American columnist, author, and political analyst. Career A graduate of Evanston Township High School and Stanford University , he served on the White House staff under both Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush and on each of their presidential campaigns from 1980 to 1992. In January 2008, he became a senior adviser to the Mike Huckabee 2008 presidential campaign.

#1505

Manfred G. Schmidt

#33675

Overall Influence

1948 - Present (76 years)

Manfred G. Schmidt is professor of political science at the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. Education After studying political science and English studies, Manfred G. Schmidt received his PhD in political science from the University of Tübingen, directed by Gerhard Lehmbruch. He received his postdoctoral degree from the University of Konstanz in 1981.

#1506

Katrina Swett

#49027

Overall Influence

1955 - Present (69 years)

Yvonne Katrina Swett is the President of the Lantos Foundation. She is also an American educator and the former chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom from 2012 to 2013, and then in 2014 to 2015. She ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic candidate for Congress in New Hampshire's 2nd congressional district during the 2002 United States midterm elections.

#1507

Kenneth F. Warren

#64764

Overall Influence

Kenneth F. Warren is an authority on politics, public administration, and administrative law within the United States. Warren is a professor of political science at Saint Louis University and the president of The Warren Poll. Warren has polled for various media, government, and political clients, including former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt.

#1508

Mario Einaudi

#34106

Overall Influence

1904 - 1994 (90 years)

Mario Einaudi was an Italian scholar of political theory and European comparative politics. Biography He was born in 1904 in Italy in one of the most influential intellectual family in Italy. His father, Luigi Einaudi, was one of Italy's great economic thinkers and later became the second President of the Republic of Italy . His brother, Giulio Einaudi, was antifascist and the founder of the leading intellectual publishing house Giulio Einaudi Editore. A graduate of the University of Turin's distinguished law faculty, Mario Einaudi married Manon Michels, the daughter of the sociologist Rober...

#1509

Michael Hanchard

Michael Hanchard

#40428

Overall Influence

#1510

Andrew Hacker

#17916

Overall Influence

1929 - Present (95 years)

Andrew Hacker is an American political scientist and public intellectual. He is currently Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science at Queens College in New York. He did his undergraduate work at Amherst College, followed by graduate work at Oxford University, University of Michigan, and Princeton University, where he received his PhD degree. Hacker taught at Cornell before taking his current position at Queens. He is the son of Louis M. Hacker.

#1511

M. Kent Jennings

#53323

Overall Influence

1934 - Present (90 years)

Myron Kent Jennings is an American political scientist best known for his path-breaking work on the patterns and development of political preferences and behaviors among young Americans. He is widely held in libraries worldwide and is recognized as one of the "founding fathers" of political socialization research and theory. He is Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Michigan. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1982, and served as the president o...

#1512

Philip Cowley

#68313

Overall Influence

1969 - Present (55 years)

Philip Cowley is a British political scientist and an academic at Queen Mary University of London in the School of Politics and International Relations. He previously held the same title at the University of Nottingham. Within academia he is particularly notable for his analysis of Parliamentary voting behaviour in the UK House of Commons and House of Lords and secondly his opposition to a lowering of the UK voting age below 18.

#1513

B. Guy Peters

#85645

Overall Influence

#1514

Francis Beer

#46258

Overall Influence

1939 - Present (85 years)

Francis A. Beer is an American professor emeritus of political science, University of Colorado at Boulder. His research focuses on war and peace. Honors and awards include listings in Who's Who in the World and Who's Who in America, as well as other directories. He was president of the International Studies Association/West and co-edited, with Ted Gurr at the University of Colorado, a series of Sage books on "Violence, Conflict, Cooperation." In addition to two Fulbright awards to France and the Netherlands he has received other awards from the Earhart Foundation, the Institute for World Order, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

#1515

Laleh Khalili

#40839

Overall Influence

1950 - Present (74 years)

Laleh Khalili is an Iranian American and Professor of Gulf Studies at University of Exeter. She was formerly a Professor of Middle Eastern Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London and a Professor of International Politics at Queen Mary University of London.

#1516

Rainer Kattel

#30332

Overall Influence

1974 - Present (50 years)

Rainer Kattel is an Estonian academic and science administrator. He is Professor of Innovation and Public Governance at Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, UCL, and Research Professor and Chair of Innovation Policy and Technology Governance at Tallinn University of Technology. In 2015-16, he was a Visiting Professor at Columbia University's Earth Institute.

#1517

William B. Allen

William B. Allen

#36140

Overall Influence

1944 - Present (80 years)

William Barclay Allen is an author, professor, and political scientist from Fernandina Beach, Florida. He was a member of the National Council on the Humanities from 1984 to 1987 and chairman of the United States Commission on Civil Rights from 1988 to 1989. Allen has been described as a "conservative black leader in education."

#1518

Hans-Georg Betz

#38368

Overall Influence

1956 - Present (68 years)

Hans-Georg Betz is an academic at the University of Zurich. He is the author of several books on right-wing populism including Radical Right-Wing Populism in Western Europe and The New Politics of the Right: Neo-Populist Parties and Movements in Established Democracies.

#1519

Hong Sook-ja

#56546

Overall Influence

1933 - Present (91 years)

Hong Sook-ja is a South Korean activist, politician, and writer. She was appointed South Korea's first female diplomat and later became the first female presidential candidate to enter the electoral foray, having done so in South Korea's first democratic elections in 1987.

#1520

Walter Broadnax

#51204

Overall Influence

1944 - 2022 (78 years)

Walter Doyce Broadnax was an American academic administrator, educator, and university president. He was a Distinguished Professor of Public Administration at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, a role he held from 2008 until 2015. Prior to this appointment he served as the second president of Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia, retiring after six years in July 2008.

#1521

Bruce Frohnen

#35754

Overall Influence

1962 - Present (62 years)

Bruce P. Frohnen is a Professor of Law at Ohio Northern University College of Law, where he teaches courses in Public and Constitutional Law, Jurisprudence, and Legal Profession. Early life He holds a J.D. from Emory University School of Law, where he worked under the late Harold J. Berman, a noted legal historian involved in renewing understanding of the role of religion in the development of the western legal tradition. He also holds a Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University and taught political philosophy for several years before entering law school.

#1522

James D. Morrow

#53381

Overall Influence

1957 - Present (67 years)

James D. Morrow is the A.F.K. Organski Collegiate Professor of World Politics at the University of Michigan and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, best known for his pioneering work in noncooperative game theory and selectorate theory.

#1523

Martin Potůček

#53896

Overall Influence

1948 - Present (76 years)

Martin Potůček is Czech academic and journalist. Education Potůček studied philosophy, mathematics, political science, and sociology at Masaryk University in Brno. He worked as a researcher at the Department of Complex Modelling, Sportpropag, and later in the Institute of Social Medicine and Organisation of Health Services in Prague, until 1989. He received his Ph.D. in management theory in 1989 from the University of Economics, Prague. He subsequently studied at the London School of Economics, receiving an M.Sc. in European social policy in 1991, and participated in a number of professional f...

#1524

Christopher Wise

#14083

Overall Influence

1961 - Present (63 years)

Christopher Wise is a cultural theorist, literary critic, scholar, and translator. His publications largely focus on Sahelian West Africa, especially Mali, Burkina Faso, and Senegal, as well as Palestine, Jordan, and Israel. He has also published theoretical works on Fredric Jameson, Jacques Derrida, and Noam Chomsky.

#1525

Albert Somit

#49481

Overall Influence

1919 - 2020 (101 years)

Albert Somit was an American political scientist known for his pioneering work in biopolitics. He turned 100 in October 2019 and died in August 2020. Biography Somit was born in Chicago, Illinois in October 1919 but grew up in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He was educated at the University of Chicago, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1941 and his Ph.D. in 1947. He served as a professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo for 35 years, and as the university's executive vice president for the last 10 of them. On August 14, 1980, he became the 14th president of Southern Illinois University Carbondale .

#1526

George Michael

#23466

Overall Influence

1961 - Present (63 years)

George Joseph Michael is an American historian, political scientist, and writer. He is a professor at the criminal justice faculty of Westfield State University in Massachusetts, and previously served as associate professor of nuclear counterproliferation and deterrence theory at the Air War College and as associate professor of political science and administration of justice at The University of Virginia's College at Wise. He studies right-wing extremism, including the relationship between militant Islam and the far right, and is the author of Confronting Right-Wing Extremism and Terrorism i...

#1527

Levon Ter-Petrosyan

#39547

Overall Influence

1945 - Present (79 years)

Levon Hakobi Ter-Petrosyan , also known by his initials LTP, is an Armenian politician and historian who served as the first president of Armenia from 1991 until his resignation in 1998. A senior researcher at the Matenadaran, he led the Karabakh movement for the unification of the Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia which began in 1988. After Armenia's declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in September 1991, Ter-Petrosyan was elected president in October 1991 with overwhelming public support. He led the country through the First Nagorno-Karabakh War with neighboring A...

#1528

David L. Kirp

#20826

Overall Influence

1944 - Present (80 years)

David Kirp is a professor at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, a member of the National Academy of Education, a contributing writer to The New York Times and a senior scholar at the Learning Policy Institute, a "think-and-do" tank. He is a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Education. In his seventeen books and hundreds of articles, he has concentrated on pivotal education and youth issues from cradle to college and career.

#1529

David Pakman

#11700

Overall Influence

1984 - Present (40 years)

David Pakman is an American progressive talk show host and political commentator. He is the host of the talk radio program The David Pakman Show. He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and is a naturalized citizen of the United States.

#1530

Steve Tsang

#41397

Overall Influence

1959 - Present (65 years)

Steve Tsang is a Hong Kong-born political scientist and historian whose expertise includes politics and governance in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, the foreign and security policies of China and Taiwan, and peace and security in East Asia. He is the current Director of the SOAS China Institute at the SOAS University of London.

#1531

Bonnie Jenkins

#32104

Overall Influence

Bonnie Denise Jenkins is an expert on arms control and nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction and currently serves as the under secretary of state for arms control and international security affairs. During the Obama administration, she was the U.S. Department of State's coordinator for threat reduction programs in the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation.

#1532

Vladimir Ryzhkov

Vladimir Ryzhkov

#51517

Overall Influence

1966 - Present (58 years)

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Ryzhkov is a Russian historian and liberal politician, a former co-chair of People's Freedom Party and former Russian State Duma member , First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma and the leader of parliamentary group Our Home – Russia. He is a candidate of historical sciences and a professor of the Higher School of Economics. Anchorman of a number of Echo of Moscow radio programs.

#1533

Robert Spitzer

#28591

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (71 years)

Robert James Spitzer is an American political scientist, commentator, and author. Spitzer is the author of numerous books, articles, essays, papers, and op-eds on many topics related to American politics. His areas of specialty include the American presidency and gun politics.

#1534

David Manker Abshire

David Manker Abshire

#36780

Overall Influence

1926 - 2014 (88 years)

David Manker Abshire served as a Special Counselor to President Ronald Reagan and was the United States Permanent Representative to NATO from 1983 to 1987. Abshire presided over the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress.

#1535

John Kirton

#53146

Overall Influence

1948 - Present (76 years)

John James Kirton is professor emeritus of political science and the director and founder of the G7 Research Group, director and founder of the G20 Research Group, founder and co-director of the Global Health Diplomacy Program, and founder and co-founder of the BRICS Research Group, based at University of Trinity College in the University of Toronto.

#1536

David C. King

#64566

Overall Influence

1901 - Present (123 years)

David C. King is an American author, political consultant and senior lecturer at Harvard University. He lectures on Legislatures, Political Parties and Interest Groups. Professor King joined the Harvard faculty in 1992.

#1537

Kaveh L. Afrasiabi

#60481

Overall Influence

1958 - Present (66 years)

Kaveh Lotfollah Afrasiabi is an Iranian-American political scientist and author, living in Boston, Massachusetts. In January 2021, Afrasiabi was arrested by the FBI on charges of working as an unregistered agent of the Iranian government. On September 18, 2023, Afrasiabi received a presidential pardon by President Biden and the pending charges against him were dropped at the pre-trial stage.

#1538

Zhang Weiwei

#38790

Overall Influence

1957 - Present (67 years)

Zhang Weiwei is a Chinese academic and the director of the China Institute of Fudan University. Zhang is also an Internet celebrity, spreading his political ideas through online video platforms such as Xigua Video, Bilibili, TikTok and YouTube.

#1539

Brigitte L. Nacos

#58025

Overall Influence

1936 - Present (88 years)

Brigitte Lebens Nacos is an Adjunct Professor in political science at Columbia University. She has written on the news media, the politics of Germany, and terrorism. She is a joint author of a paper, "Prevention of Terrorism in Post-9/11 America" which was delivered at the Summer 2006 meeting of the American Political Science Association; the paper addresses the correlation between increases in terrorism alert levels and the popularity of U.S. President George W. Bush. Referring to her study of terrorism alerts, media coverage, and Bush's popularity, journalist Matthew Stannard wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle that "The media will repeat the president's remarks.

#1540

Terry Nardin

#33577

Overall Influence

1942 - Present (82 years)

Terry W. Nardin is Professor of Political Science and the Director of the Common Curriculum at Yale-NUS College in Singapore. Formerly, he served as the head of the Political Science Department at the National University of Singapore. He specialises in political theory, history of ideas and international political theory.

#1541

Michel Cullin

#42379

Overall Influence

1944 - 2020 (76 years)

Michel Cullin was "" at the University of Nice and director of French-Austrian relations at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna. Life Cullin was born in Paris. After he earned his degrees in political science and German studies in Paris, Michel Cullin became "Assistant de français" at the "Theresianum-school" in Vienna . Between 1967 and 1969 he was "Lecteur de français" at the University of Vienna. After working at the Geschwister-Scholl-Institute and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich he became "Assistant d’allemand" , "Maître- assistant de civilisation autrichienne" and later "Maît...

#1542

Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah

#75909

Overall Influence

1953 - Present (71 years)

Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah is a Sudanese physician and human rights activist. Biography A member of the Fur people, he is from the Marrah Mountains in Central Darfur. As a boy, he walked three days to reach his middle school, and five days to reach his high school. He then attended medical school at the University of Khartoum, graduating in 1976. The first physician from his area, he later constructed a medical network throughout Darfur to report rapes and other violence. He became a medical professor at Darfur's Al Fashir University and acted as director of the Amel Center for the Treatment & R...

#1543

Andrew A. Michta

#49453

Overall Influence

1956 - Present (68 years)

Andrew Alexander Michta is an American political scientist and Director of the Scowcroft Strategy Initiative at the Atlantic Council of the United States in Washington, DC, where he is also a Senior Fellow. From 2016-2023 he was Dean of the College of International and Security Studies at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany. Previously he was Professor of National Security Affairs at the US Naval War College. He was also an affiliate of the Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, an Adjunct Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies...

#1544

David Marsh

#68490

Overall Influence

1946 - Present (78 years)

David Marsh , is a British political scientist. He is currently Professor of Political Sociology and the Head of the Department of Sociology at the University of Birmingham and Fellow at the Institute of Governance and Policy Analysis .

#1545

Rafe de Crespigny

#22105

Overall Influence

1936 - Present (88 years)

Richard Rafe Champion de Crespigny , also known by his Chinese name Zhang Leifu , is an Australian sinologist and historian. He was an adjunct professor in the College of Asia and the Pacific at the Australian National University. He specialised in the history, geography, and literature of the Han dynasty, particularly the translation and historiography of material concerning the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period.

#1546

Warren Miller

#38130

Overall Influence

1924 - 1999 (75 years)

Warren Edward Miller was an American political scientist in the field of American political behavior. Best known as a co-author of the seminal book, The American Voter, alongside Angus Campbell, Philip Converse and Donald Stokes, which provided the basis for the social-psychological "Michigan school" of thought in American political behavior, Miller had a full and impressive career as a political scientist.

#1547

Grigorii Golosov

#62465

Overall Influence

1963 - Present (61 years)

Grigorii V. Golosov , sometimes spelled as Grigory Golosov, is a Russian political scientist. He is a professor and the Head of Political Science Department at the European University at Saint Petersburg, Russia. He is notable as expert on political institutions and electoral systems, in particular, in application to Russia. His article "Electoral Systems and Party Formation in Russia" received a Lawrence Longley Award of the American Political Science Association for the best journal article on electoral systems and representation published in 2003.

#1548

Thomas Heberer

#53592

Overall Influence

1947 - Present (77 years)

Thomas Heberer is a Senior Professor of Chinese Politics & Society at the University Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Education Thomas Heberer studied Social Anthropology , Philosophy, Political Science, and Chinese Studies in Frankfurt, Göttingen, Mainz and Heidelberg.

#1549

Wolfgang Wessels

Wolfgang Wessels

#47913

Overall Influence

1948 - Present (76 years)

Wolfgang Theodor Wessels is a German political scientist. He holds the Jean Monnet Chair ad personam in political science, is a retired professor at the University of Cologne, and the head of the Centre for Turkey and European Studies at the University of Cologne.

#1550

Chandra Talpade Mohanty

Chandra Talpade Mohanty

#5733

Overall Influence

1955 - Present (69 years)

Chandra Talpade Mohanty is a Distinguished Professor of Women's and Gender Studies, Sociology, and the Cultural Foundations of Education and Dean's Professor of the Humanities at Syracuse University. Mohanty, a postcolonial and transnational feminist theorist, has argued for the inclusion of a transnational approach in exploring women’s experiences across the world. She is author of Feminism Without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity , and co-editor of Third World Women and the Politics of Feminism , Feminist Genealogies, Colonial Legacies, Democratic Futures , Feminism and War: Confronting U.S.

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