PIPPA NORRIS is a comparative political scientist who has taught at Harvard for three decades. She is the Paul McGuire Lecturer in Comparative Politics at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, an Affiliated Professor at Harvard’s Government Department, and founding Director of the Electoral Integrity Project. She has also served as Laureate Fellow and Professor of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney.
Major honors include the 2020 Samuel Eldersveld award by APSA, the 2019 Charles Merriam award by APSA, 2018 fellowship of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the 2017 Isaiah Berlin Lifetime Achievement Award by the PSA, the 2017 International Institutional Engagement award, the 2016 Brown Medal for Democracy, the Australian PSA’s 2016 Academic Leadership in Political Science, IPSA’s 2014 Karl Deutsch award, the 2011 Johan Skytte prize in political science, and the ARC’s 2011 Kathleen Fitzpatrick Australian Laureate Fellowship. Book prizes include the 2018 George H. Hallet book award (for Political Recruitment), the 2006 Doris A. Graber award for the best book in political communications (for A Virtuous Circle), and the Virginia Hodgkinson prize (for Sacred and Secular). Honorary doctorates have been awarded by the University of Edinburgh, the University of Bergen, Leuphema University in Luneberg, and Warwick University,
Her research compares public opinion and elections, democratic institutions and cultures, gender politics, and political communications in many countries worldwide.
A well-known public speaker and prolific author, she has published around fifty books. This includes a series for Cambridge University Press: A Virtuous Circle: Political Communications in Postindustrial Societies, Digital Divide: Civic Engagement, Information Poverty and the Internet Worldwide (2001), Democratic Phoenix: Political Activism Worldwide (2002) and Rising Tide: Gender Equality and Cultural Change Around the Globe (with Ronald Inglehart, 2003), Electoral Engineering: Voting Rules and Political Behavior (2004), Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide (with Ronald Inglehart, 2004, Radical Right: Voters and Parties in the Electoral Market (2005), Driving Democracy: Do power-sharing institutions work? (2008) and Cosmopolitan Communications: Cultural Diversity in a Globalizing World (2009, with Ronald Inglehart), Democratic Deficit: Critical Citizens Revisited (2011), and Making Democratic Governance Work: The Impact of Regimes on Prosperity, Welfare and Peace (2012), Why Electoral Integrity Matters (2014), and Why Elections Fail (2015), Strengthening Electoral Integrity (2017), and Cultural Backlash: Trump, Brexit and Authoritarian-Populism (with Ronald Inglehart) (2019). Current research is for the ESRC TrustGov project, for a new book In Praise of Skepticism.
Other authored or edited books include Electoral Integrity in America (OUP 2018), Election Watchdogs (OUP 2017), Contentious Elections (2015), Checkbook Elections? Political Finance in Comparative Perspective (OUP 2015), Comparing Democracy 4 (Sage 2014), Challenges of Electoral Integrity (OUP 2014), On Message (1999), Electoral Change Since 1945 (1997), Political Recruitment (1995), British By-elections (1990), Politics and Sexual Equality (1986). Edited books include Public Sentinel: News Media and the Governance Agenda (World Bank 2010), Britain Votes 2005 (co-edited with Christopher Wlezien, 2005), Framing Terrorism (2003), Britain Votes 2001 (2001), Critical Citizens (1999), Critical Elections (1999), The Politics of News (1998, 2nd edition 2007), Elections and Voting Behaviour (1998), Britain Votes 1997 (1997), Women, Media and Politics (1997), Politics and the Press (1997), Passages to Power (1997), Comparing Democracies (1996, 2nd ed. 2002, 3rd edition 2009), Women in Politics (1996), Different Voices, Different Lives (1994), Gender and Party Politics (1993), British Elections & Parties Yearbook (1991, 1992, 1993).
Her work has been published in more than a dozen languages. Journals articles include those in the British Journal for Political Science, Political Studies, Political Communication, the European Journal of Political Research, the International Political Science Review, Electoral Studies and Legislative Studies, and she co-founded The Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics.
For professional service, she has served as Vice President of the American Political Science Association (APSA), and the executive of the International Political Science Association (IPSA), the Political Science Association of the UK (PSA), and the World Values Survey Association. Within APSA, she has served as president of the Women and Politics Research Section and the Political Communications Section, the Vice-President and President of the Elections, Public Opinion and Voting Behavior section, and the executive of the British Politics Group and the Representation and Elections Section. She has also been Co-Founding Chair of the Elections, Parties, and Public Opinion Group (EPOP) of the PSA and IPSA’s Elections, Citizens and Parties Research Committee.
For public service, she has served as the Director of the Democratic Governance Group at the United Nations Development Program in New York and the Advisory Board for International IDEA, and been an expert consultant for many international bodies including the UN, UNDP, UNESCO, UN Women, NDI, the Council of Europe, IFES, International IDEA, the OSCE, the World Bank, the National Endowment for Democracy, and the UK and Australian Electoral Commissions.
She has held visiting appointments at Columbia University, the University of California-Berkeley, the University of East Anglia, the University of Oslo, the University of Cape Town, Otago University, Sydney University, and the Australian National University. Prior to joining Harvard in 1992, she taught at Edinburgh University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Politics and Philosophy from Warwick University, and Masters and Doctoral degrees in Politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
At Harvard she teaches in the Kennedy School and the Government department. Full details and publications can be found at: www.pippanorris.com and she can be contacted at Pippa_Norris@Harvard.edu and @PippaN15.