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The Heinz Eulau Award is for the best article published in the American Political Science Review and Perspectives on Politics during the previous calendar year. Two Eulau Awards are made, one for each journal.
 
Award Committee Chair: Kenneth A. Oye, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

American Political Science Review Committee: Michael C. Desch, University of Notre Dame; Thomas Romer, Princeton University

Perspectives on Politics Committee: Katharine H.S. Moon, Wellesley College; Linda L. Fowler, Dartmouth College

Title: “The Autocrat’s Credibility Problem and Foundations of the Constitutional State.” American Political Science Review Volume 102, Issue 01, February 2008

Citation: This article offers fresh insights into relations that lie at the heart of autocratic politics, with broader implications for governance.  Roger Myerson considers relations among a leader and captains whose efforts the leader requires to attain and retain power.  The leader may promise rewards for the efforts of captains and may be tempted to renege on such promises. 
 
Myerson examines the resulting trust and reassurance problem.   Myerson assesses the implications of this reassurance problem for the performance of autocratic polities by combining classical methods of analysis with a game-theoretic model of agency incentive problems.  Myerson also shows how institutional arrangements such as courts and councils mitigate the central problem of trust by allowing captains to share information and evaluate their leader’s behavior. 
 
This rigorous and subtle essay has implications for diverse political systems, including absolute monarchy, constrained monarchy and oligarchy.  It is likely to offer a fruitful structure for continuing examination of the evolution of political institutions.

Co-Recipient: Michael L. Ross, University of California, Los Angeles

Title: "“Oil, Islam, and Women.” American Political Science Review Volume 102, Issue 01, February 2008

Citation: This article is rich in theoretical and substantive insights.  Michael Ross observes that women in the Middle East and North Africa have enjoyed less progress toward gender equality than women in other regions.  He develops an economic explanation of this phenomenon that contrasts with more common cultural explanations.

Conventional wisdom attributes the status of women to those varieties of Islamic culture found in North Africa and the Middle East.  Ross suggests that economic dependency on oil exports better accounts for variation in the status of women in these regions.   He explains why women tend to be underrepresented in the work force of oil based economies and how work force representation affects political standing. 

This article is a model of empirical social science with implications for theory and policy.  It contributes to understandings of relations across economic, social and social phenomenon, and in so doing offers insights of value to all seek to improve the standing of women in developing countries.

Co-Recipient: Elizabeth J. Perry, Harvard University

Title: “Chinese Concepts of Rights: From Mencius to Mao – and Now” Perspectives, March 2008

Citation: This article is an exemplary Perspectives selection.  It addresses fundamental questions with significant implications for policy in a manner appropriate to specialists and non-specialists alike.
 
Perry argues that from classical times to the present, a principal criterion for judging Chinese rulers has been the promotion of economic welfare and security.  In Mencius' words: "An intelligent ruler will regulate the livelihood of the people, so as to make sure that…in good years they shall always be abundantly satisfied, and that in bad years they shall escape the danger of perishing."   The influence of these ideas runs through the writings of Mao with his emphasis on the welfare of the peasantry as a test of effective governance.  These ideas are also found at the core of the writings of the current regime.  Perry makes a persuasive argument that when China's leaders address human rights they are recognizing indigenous interpretations of such rights.  

Perry's study is in tension with conventional criticisms and common predictions on human rights in China.  Because economic liberalization often leads to political liberalization, many foreign observers predict upheaval as an increasingly prosperous China fails to guarantee individual rights.  Perry casts doubts on such predictions, noting that economic hardships in rural areas are the most likely sources of instability.  Any analyst seeking insight into possible political consequences of the 2008-2009 economic crisis would be well advised to reflect on the implications this piece. 

Finally, Perry offers more than the standard bromide on the dangers of applying the standards of one culture to another.  She reminds readers that individual liberty is not the only benchmark by which Westerners judge their own societies, noting that values grounded in economic well-being have deep roots in the liberal tradition.  Indeed, she cites T.H. Marshall who emphasized that "social citizenship" with rights to economic welfare and security trumps "political citizenship" with emphasis on political participation as the highest manifestation of evolutionary citizenship.