Section 04 - American Political Science Association (APSA)

Public Policy Section Award Recipients

Aaron Wildavsky Enduring Contribution Award
Best Comparative Policy Paper Award
Best Poster on Public Policy Award
Best Paper on Public Policy Award
Excellence in Mentoring Award
Hubert H. Humphrey Award
Harold Lasswell Award
Theodore J. Lowi Policy Studies Journal Best Article Award

Aaron Wildavsky Enduring Contribution Award

The Aaron Wildavsky Enduring Contribution Award is given for the best book or article published in the general area of public policy during the past twenty (20) plus years. The book or article should have had a major impact on the field. This award carries a $500 prize.

2024	Martin Gilens, University of California, Los Angles Why Americans Hate Welfare. University of Chicago Press, 1999.
2023	Joe Soss, University of Minnesota Disciplining the Poor: Neoliberalism and the Persistent Power of Race. University of Chicago Press, 2011.
2023	Richard C. Fording, University of Alabama Disciplining the Poor: Neoliberalism and the Persistent Power of Race. University of Chicago Press, 2011.
2023	Sanford Schram, Hunter College, CUNY Disciplining the Poor: Neoliberalism and the Persistent Power of Race. University of Chicago Press, 2011.
2022	Jacob Hacker, Yale University The Divided Welfare State: The Battle over Public and Private Social Benefits in the United States. Cambridge University Press, 2002.
2021	Andrea Campbell, Massachusetts Institute of Technology How Policies Make Citizens. Princeton University Press, 2003.
2020	Thomas A. Birkland, North Carolina State University After Disaster: Agenda Setting, Public Policy, and Focusing Events. Georgetown University Press, 1997.
2019	James Mahoney, Northwestern University A Theory of Gradual Institutional Change. Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency and Power. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
2019	Kathleen Thelen, The Massachusetts Institute of Technology A Theory of Gradual Institutional Change. Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency and Power. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
2018	R. Kent Weaver, Georgetown University “The Politics of Blame Avoidance.” Journal of Public Policy, 1986.
2017	Frank Fischer, Rutgers University Reframing Public Policy. Oxford University Press, 2003.
2016	Robert D. Putnam, Harvard University Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. Simon and Schuster, 2001.
2015	James C. Scott, Yale University Seeing Like A State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. Yale University Press, 1998
2013	Theda Skocpol, Harvard University Protecting Soldiers and Mothers: The Political Origins of Social Policy in the United States (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992)
2012	Lester Salamon, Johns Hopkins University Partners in Public Service: Government-Nonprofit Relations in the Modern Welfare State (Johns Hopkins University Press,1995)
2011	Paul Pierson, University of California, Berkeley “Increasing Returns, Path Dependence, and the Study of Politics,”
2009	Peter Hall, University of Washington Governing the Economy: The Politics of State Intervention in Britain and France (Oxford University, 1986)
2009	Jennifer Hochschild, University of Washington The Shifting Politics of Multiracialism in the United States
2008	Anne L. Schneider, University of Arizona Policy Designs for Democracy (University Press of Kansas, 1997)
2008	Helen Ingram, University of Arizona Policy Designs for Democracy (University Press of Kansas, 1997)
2006	Charles Lindblom, Yale University Politics and Markets: The World’s Political Economic Systems (Basic Books, 1977)
2005	Gosta Esping-Anderson, European University Institute The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (Princeton University Press, 1990).
2004	James March, Stanford University Rediscovering Institutions: The Organizational Basis of Politics (New York: The Free Press, 1989)
2004	Johan Olsen, ARENA, University of Oslo Co-Authored with James March: Rediscovering Institutions: The Organizational Basis of Politics (New York: The Free Press, 1989)
2004	James March, Stanford University Co-Authored with Johan P. Olsen, University of Oslo: Rediscovering Institutions: The Organizational Basis of Politics (Free Press, 1989
2003	Martha Derthick, University of Virginia The Politics of Deregulation (Brookings Institution Press, 1985)
2003	Paul Quirk, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign The Politics of Deregulation (Brookings Institution Press 1985)
2002	Deborah Stone, Dartmouth College Policy Paradox: The Art of Political Decision-Making (W.W. Norton, 1988)
2001	Frank Baumgartner, Pennsylvania State University Agendas and Instability in American Politics (University of Chicago Press, 1993)
2001	Bryan Jones, University of Washington Agendas and Instability in American Politics (University of Chicago Press, 1993)
2000	Elinor Ostrom, Indiana University Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action (Cambridge University Press, 1990)
1999	Michael Lipsky, Ford Foundation Street-Level Bureaucracy (Russell Sage, 1980)
1998	Roger Cobb, Brown University Participation in American Politics: The Dynamics of Agenda Building (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983)
1998	Charles Elder, Wayne State University Participation in American Politics: The Dynamics of Agenda Building (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983)
1997	Daniel Mazmanian, University of Michigan Implementation and Public Policy (Rowman & Littlefield, 1989)
1997	Paul Sabatier, University of California-Davis Implementation and Public Policy (Rowman & Littlefield, 1989)
1996	James Wilson, University of California-Los Angeles The Politics of Regulation (Basic Books, 1980)
1994	John Kingdon, University of Michigan Agendas, Alternatives, and Public Policy (Addison-Wesley Pub Co, 1997; 2nd Edition)
1989	David Ellwood, Harvard University Poor Support (Basic Books, 1989)

Best Comparative Policy Paper Award

The Best Comparative Policy Paper Award recognizes an article of particular distinction published in the area of comparative public policy, awarded in collaboration with the International Comparative Policy Analysis Forum. This award carries a prize of $500.

2025	Nikhar Gaikwad, Columbia University Anjali Thomas, Georgia Institute of Technology “Getting on the Grid: A Field Experiment on Bottom-Up Political Pressure and Access to Essential Public Services”
2024	Cesar Zucco, Getulio Vargas Foundation “Benefits by Luck: A Study of Lotteries as a Selection Method for Government Programs.”
2024	Felipe Nunes, University of California, San Diego “Benefits by Luck: A Study of Lotteries as a Selection Method for Government Programs.”
2024	Natalie Bueno, Emory University “Benefits by Luck: A Study of Lotteries as a Selection Method for Government Programs.”
2023	Guillermo Toral, IE University “Political Bureaucractic Cycle: Public Employment and Service Delivery around Elections in Brazil”
2022	Ling Chen, Johns Hopkins University SAIS “Capital Mobility and Taxation in Non-OECD Countries: Evidence from China”
2022	Florian Hollenbach, Texas A&M University “Capital Mobility and Taxation in Non-OECD Countries: Evidence from China”
2020	Tugba Bozcaga, Massachusetts Institute of Technology “The Social Bureaucrat: How Social Proximity among Bureaucrats Affects Local Governance in Turkey.” APSA annual meeting (2019).
2019	Agustina Paglayan, University of California, San Diego “Democracy and Educational Expansion: Evidence from 200 years.” Unpublished manuscript.
2018	Amelia Peterson, Harvard University “Incentivizing higher skills – but whose? The politics of credential reform in Liberal Market Economies.”
2017	Melani Cammett, Harvard University “Political Context, Organizational Mission and the Quality of Social Services: Insights from the Health Sector in Lebanon.”
2017	Aytug Sasmaz, Brown University “Political Context, Organizational Mission and the Quality of Social Services: Insights from the Health Sector in Lebanon.”
2016	Daniel Treisman, University of California, Los Angeles “Misperceiving Inequality”
2016	Vladimir Gimpelson, Higher School of Economics “Misperceiving Inequality”
2015	Zachary Elkins, University of Texas-Austin “Micro-Level Foundations of Diffusion Theory: Experimental Evidence”
2013	Matthias Orlowski, Humboldt-University Berlin The Dynamics of Electoral Incentives. Electoral Systems and Agricultural Support in OECD countries paper prepared for the 2012 APSA Annual Meeting
2012	Claire Annesley, University of Manchester
2012	Isabelle Engeli, University of Ottawa
2011	Shaun Bevan, Pennsylvania State University “Opinion-Responsiveness of Governing Agendas in the US and the UK: Institutional Filtering of Issue Priorities of the Public”
2011	Will Jennings, University of Manchester “Opinion-Responsiveness of Governing Agendas in the US and the UK: Institutional Filtering of Issue Priorities of the Public”

Best Poster on Public Policy Award

The Best Poster on Public Policy Award is given for the best paper or poster presented at the poster session at the previous APSA meeting. This award carries a prize of $500.

2020	Renu Singh, Georgetown University “What Makes a Changemaker?” APSA annual meeting (2019).
2019	Wenhui Feng, The State University of New York at Albany “Variation in Local Health Departments’ Involvement in Implementing Obesity Policies.” Unpublished manuscript.
2019	Erika G. Martin, The State University of New York at Albany “Variation in Local Health Departments’ Involvement in Implementing Obesity Policies.” Unpublished manuscript.
2017	Philip Rocco, Marquette University “The Politics of Trial and Error: Medicare Demonstrations and Policy Change.”
2017	Andrew Kelly, Johns Hopkins University “The Politics of Trial and Error: Medicare Demonstrations and Policy Change.”
2016	Mallory SoRelle , Cornell University “Information v. Ideology: Recognizing (Government) Benefits in the Submerged State.”
2016	Delphia Shanks-Booth , Cornell University “Information v. Ideology: Recognizing (Government) Benefits in the Submerged State.”
2015	Ellen Donnelly, University of Pennsylvania “In Pursuit of Racial Justice: Assessing the Politics and Consequences of Racial Disparity Reform in the U.S. Criminal Justice System.”
2013	Nathan Mitchell, Prairie View A&M University “U.S. State Soveringn Debt Restrictions in the 50 States.”
2013	Jake Haselswerdt, George Washington University Death and Tax Breaks: Comparing the Survival Rates of Tax Expenditures and Direct Spending Programs.
2012	Lindsay Flynn, University of Virginia “The Work-Family Tradeoff: How Some Countries are Managing Better than Others.”

Best Paper on Public Policy Award

The Best Paper on Public Policy Award recognizes the best paper on Public Policy given at the previous APSA Annual Meeting. This award carries a $500 prize.

2025	Kaylyn Jackson Schiff, Purdue University Daniel S. Schiff, Purdue University Bryant J. Moy, Purdue University Joshua McCrain, Purdue University Scott M. Mourtgos, Purdue University Ian T. Adams, Purdue University “Does Civilian Oversight Impact Police Legitimacy?”
2024	Jonas Meckling, University of California, Berkeley “Fighting the Future: Short-Term Investors and Business Opposition to Climate Policy.”
2024	Jaren Finnegan, University College London “Fighting the Future: Short-Term Investors and Business Opposition to Climate Policy.”
2023	Sam Workman, West Virginia University “County Budgetary Dynamics: Findings from Appalachia”
2023	Herschel “Trey” Thomas, West Virginia University “County Budgetary Dynamics: Findings from Appalachia”
2023	Corinne Connor, West Virginia University “County Budgetary Dynamics: Findings from Appalachia”
2022	Leslie Finger, University of North Texas “Politics, Markets, and Pandemics: Public Education’s Response to COVID-19.”
2022	Michael Hartney, Boston College “Politics, Markets, and Pandemics: Public Education’s Response to COVID-19.”
2021	Jonas Meckling, University of California, Berkeley “Strategic State Capacity: How States Counter Opposition to Climate Policy.” Presented at APSA 2020.
2021	Jonas Nahm, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies “Strategic State Capacity: How States Counter Opposition to Climate Policy.” Presented at APSA 2020.
2021	Natalia Bueno, Emory University “Homeowners Unite? Homeownership, Values and Voice.” Presented at APSA 2020.
2021	Felipe Nunes, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais “Homeowners Unite? Homeownership, Values and Voice.” Presented at APSA 2020.
2021	Cesar Zucco, Fundacao Getulio Vargas “Homeowners Unite? Homeownership, Values and Voice.” Presented at APSA 2020.
2020	Mallory SoRelle, Lafayette College “Privatizing Financial Protection: Policy Feedback in the Credit Welfare State.” APSA annual meeting (2019).
2019	Jake Grumbach , University of Washington “When Governments only Learn From Co-partisans: Partisan Policy Diffusion.” Unpublished manuscript.
2018	Laurel Eckhouse, University of Denver “Everyday Risk: Dispraate Exposure and Racial Inequalities in Police Violence.”
2017	Melissa Sands, Harvard University “Who wants to tax a millionaire? Exposure to inequality reduces support for redistribution”
2016	Daniel Galvin, Northwestern University “Wage Theft, Public Policy, and the Politics of Workers’ Rights”
2015	Alexandra Filindra, Cornell University “A Call to Arms: White Identity and Gun Control Policy Preferences in Post-Civil Rights America”
2015	Noah Kaplan, University of Illinois-Chicago “A Call to Arms: White Identity and Gun Control Policy Preferences in Post-Civil Rights America”
2014	Alan S. Gerber, Yale University “Felony status, Participation, and Political Reintegration: Results from a field experiment”
2014	Gregory A. Huber, Yale University “Felony status, Participation, and Political Reintegration: Results from a field experiment”
2014	Marc Meredith, University of Pennsylvania “Felony status, Participation, and Political Reintegration: Results from a field experiment”
2014	Daniel R. Biggers, Yale University “Felony status, Participation, and Political Reintegration: Results from a field experiment”
2014	David J. Hendry, Yale University “Felony status, Participation, and Political Reintegration: Results from a field experiment”
2014	Daniel Aldrich, Purdue University “Social, Not Physical, Infrastructure: The Critical Role of Civil Society in Disaster Recovery”
2011	Susan Moffitt, Brown University “The Politics of Bad News: Politics, Policy and Practice in K-12 Education”
2011	David Cohen, University of Michigan “The Politics of Bad News: Politics, Policy and Practice in K-12 Education”
2010	Eric Patashnik, University of Virginia “When Policy Does Not Remake Politics: The Limits of Policy Feedback”
2010	Julian Zelizer, Princeton University “When Policy Does Not Remake Politics: The Limits of Policy Feedback”
2006	Richard Fording, University of Kentucky “The Color of Devolution: The Politics of Local Punishment in the New World of Welfare”
2006	Sanford Schram, Bryn Mawr College “The Color of Devolution: The Politics of Local Punishment in the New World of Welfare”
2006	Joe Soss, University of Wisconsin, Madison “The Color of Devolution: The Politics of Local Punishment in the New World of Welfare”
2005	Karen Mossberger, Kent State University “Race, Place, and Information Technology”
2005	Caroline Tolbert, Kent State University “Race, Place, and Information Technology”
2005	Michele Gilbert, Kent State University “Race, Place, and Information Technology”
2004	Craig Volden, Ohio State University “States as Policy Laboratories: Experimenting with the Children’s Health Insurance Program”
2003	Soeren Winter, Danish National Institute of Social Research “Explaining Variation in Street-Level Bureaucratic Behaviors in Social and Regulatory Policies”
1989	Trudi Miller, Lehigh University “Designing Social Structures: A Scientific Perspective”

Excellence in Mentoring Award

The Excellence in Mentoring Award has been established to recognize sustained efforts by a senior scholars to encourage and facilitate the career of emerging political scientists in the field of Public Policy. This award carries a $500 prize.

2025	Charles Shipan, University of Michigan
2024	Aseem Prakash, University of Washington
2022	Loleen Berdahl, University of Saskatchewan
2021	Rick Hall, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
2018	Bruce Cain, Stanford University Julia Lynch, University of Pennsylvania
2017	David Weimer, University of Wisconsin-Madison
2015	Karen M. Hult, Virginia Tech
2012	John Witte, University of Wisconsin-Madison
2011	Bryan Jones, University of Texas Austin
2010	Theda Skocpol, Harvard University
2009	Paul Sabatier, University of California, Davis
2006	Kenneth Meier, Texas A&M University
2005	Frank Baumgartner, Pennsylvania State University

Hubert H. Humphrey Award

2024	Colleen Shogan, National Archives
2023	Victor Cha, Georgetown University
2022	Drew Altman, Kaiser Family Foundation
2021	Charles Kupchan, Georgetown University
2020	Tom Wolf, Governor of Pennsylvania
2019	Thomas E. Mann, The Brookings Institution
2018	Condoleezza Rice, Hoover Institution
2017	Lloyd Axworthy, University of Manitoba
2016	Edward Dorn, University of Texas at Austin
2015	Beverly Scott
2014	Henry Cuellar, U.S. House of Representatives
2013	Susan E. Rice, Executive Office of the President
2012	Louis Fisher, The Constitution Project
2011	Michael Doyle, Columbia University
2010	General David Petraeus, Department of Defense
2009	Catherine McArdle Kelleher, University of Maryland, College Park
2008	Henry G. Cisneros, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Executive Chairman of CityView
2007	Congressman David Obey, U.S. House of Representatives, Wisconsin
2006	William A. Galston, The Brookings Institution
2005	Richard Solomon, United States Institute of Peace
2004	David Dreier, U.S. House of Representatives, State of California
2003	Mark Hatfield, Former Senator, State of Oregon
2002	Parris N. Glendening, Governor of the State of Maryland
2001	Dennis Ross, Washington Near East Institute
2000	John Ruggie, Colubmia University and Assistant Secretary General, United Nations
1999	Marjorie Mowlam, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Britain
1998	Lee Herbert Hamilton, U.S. House of Representatives, State of Indiana
1997	Paul D. Wellstone, U.S. Senate, State of Minnesota
1996	Bruce C. Vladeck, Director, Health Care Financing Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
1995	Madeleine Albright, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
1994	Donna E. Shalala, Secretary of Health and Human Services
1993	Richard E. Neustadt, Harvard University
1992	Richard Cheney, Secretary of Defense
1991	Zbigniew Brzezinski, Center for Strategic and International Studies C. Payne Lucas, Africare
1990	David E. Price, U.S. House of Representatives
1989	Brent Scowcroft, Special Assistant to the President, National Security Affairs
1988	Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, Georgetown University
1987	Max M. Kampelman, Head, U.S. Delegation, Negotiations on Nuclear and Space Arms
1985	Robert C. Wood, Wesleyan University
1984	John Brademas, New York University
1983	Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senate, State of New York

Harold Lasswell Award

The Harold D. Lasswell prize is awarded annually by the American Political Science Association for the best dissertation in the field of public policy. It is co-sponsored by the Policy Studies Association and the APSA Public Policy Section. The award carries a $1,000 prize.

2025	Shir Raviv, Columbia University “The Evolving Politics of Using AI Algorithms in Public Policy Implementation”
2024	Alice Xu, University of Pennsylvania Segregation and the Spatial Externalities of Inequality: A Theory of Interdependence and Public Goods in Cities
2023	Michael Lerner, University of Michigan Green Catalysts? The Impact of Transnational Advocacy on Environmental Policy Leadership
2022	Margaret Bower, University of Chicago How She Reconfigures the State: Intersectional Advocacy & The movement to End Violence
2021	Guillermo Toral, Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Political Logics of Patronage: Uses and Abuses of Government Jobs in Brazil
2020	Shiran Victoria Shen, Stanford University Political Pollution Cycle: An Inconvenient Truth and How to Break It
2019	Natália S. Bueno, Yale UniversityThe Distributive Politics of Non-State Welfare Provision
2018	Jonathan Mummolo, Princeton UniversityModern Police Tactics, Police-Citizen Interactions, and the Prospects for Reform
2017	Alexander Hertel-Fernandez, Harvard University Whose Bills? Corporate Interests and Conservative Mobilization Across the States
2016	Brian Palmer-Rubin, University of California, Berkeley Evading the Patronage Trap: Interest Organizations and Policymaking in Mexico
2015	Michael Hartney, University of Notre Dame Turning Out Teachers: The Causes and Consequences of Teacher Political Activism in the Postwar United States
2014	Sarah Anzia, Stanford University Election Timing and the Political Influence of the Organized
2013	Nicholas Carnes, Princeton University By the Upper Class, For the Upper Class? Representational Inequality and Economic Policymaking in the United States
2012	Christopher G. Faricy, University of North Carolina The Politics of Public Versus Private Social Welfare
2011	Jennifer Kavanagh, University of Michigan The Dynamics of Protracted Terror Campaigns: Domestic Politics, Terrorist Violence, and Counterterror Responses
2010	Karen Long Jusko, University of Michigan The Political Representation of the Poor
2009	Michael Schoon, Indiana University Building Robustness to Disturbance: Governance in Southern African Peace Parks
2008	Christian Breuing, University of Washington Institutions, Attention Shifts, and Changes within National Budgets
2007	Vanda Felbab-Brown, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Shooting Up: The Impact of Illicit Economies on Military Conflict
2006	Jonathan Ari Laurence, Boston College Managing Transnational Religion: Muslims and the State in Western Europe (1974-2004)
2005	Esther N. Mwangi, International Food Policy Research Institute Institutional Change and Politics: The Transformation of Property Rights in Kenya’s Maasailand
2005	Thad Williamson, Harvard UniversitySprawl, Justice, and Citizenship: A Philosophical and Empirical Inquiry
2004	Suzanne Christine Nielsen, Harvard UniversityPreparing for War: The Dynamics of Peacetime Military Reform
2003	Kristin Anne Goss, Harvard UniversityDisarmed: The Real American Gun Control Paradox

Theodore J. Lowi Policy Studies Journal Best Article Award

The Theodore J. Lowi Policy Studies Journal Best Article Award is given to recognize an article of particular distinction published at any time in Policy Studies Journal.

2025	Are Bureaucrats’ Interactions with Politicians Linked to the Bureaucrats’ Policy Entrepreneurship Tendencies? Mariana Costa Silveira , Nissim Cohen, and Gabriela Lotta
2024	Policy design receptivity and target populations: A social construction framework approach to climate change policy Chris Koski, Paul Mason
2023	Institutional Analysis with the Institutional Grammar Saba Siddiki, Tanya Heikkila, Christopher M. Weible, Raul Pacheco-Vega, David Carter, Cali Curley, Aaron Deslatte, Abby Bennett
2022	Attenuated Governance: How Policymakers Insulate Private School Choice From Legal Challenge Ursula Hackett
2021	Policy Entrepreneurs, Legislators, and Agenda Setting: Information and Influence Sarah E. Anderson, Rob A. DeLeo, and Kristin Taylor
2020	Who Are Your Neighbors? The Role of Ideology and Decline of Geographic Proximity in the Diffusion of Policy Innovations Daniel J. Mallinson
2019	Social Constructions, Anticipatory Feedback Strategies, and Deceptive Public Policy Anne Schneider, Helen Ingram
2018	Drivers for Policy Agreement in Nascent Subsystems: An Application of the Advocacy Coalition Framework to Fracking Policy in Switzerland and the UK Karin Ingold, Manuel Fischer, and Paul Cairney
2017	Policy networks in complex governance subsystems: Observing and comparing hyperlink, media, and partnership networks Hongtao Yi and John T. Scholz
2016	Laboratories of (In)equality? Redistributive Policy and Income Inequality in the American States Megan E. Hatch and Elizabeth Rigby
2015	Subsidizing Migration? Mexican Agricultural Policies and Migration to the United States. Jeronimo Cortina
2014	Campaign Promises, Democratic Governance, and Environmental Policy in the U.S. Congress. Evan J. Ringquist, Milena I. Neshkova and Joseph Aamidor
2013	The Tortoise or the Hare? Incrementalism, Punctuations, and Their Consequences Christian Breunig and Chris Koski
2012	Constructing Homeland Security: An Anemic Policy Regime Peter J. May, Ashley E. Jochim and Joshua Sapotichne

Award for Distinguished Contribution

The Award for Distinguished Contribution recognizes creative policy analysis that has had a significant influence on the course of American public policy.

1993

Mollie Orshansky, Social Security Administration