E.E. Schattschneider Award

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PROGRAMS > APSA Awards > E.E. Schattschneider Award

E. E. Schattschneider Award

Nominations are closed.

The Schattschneider Award honors the best doctoral dissertation in the field of American government.

The award was established in honor of Dr. Elmer Eric Schattschneider, a widely published and respected political scientist who served as APSA President in 1956. The award is presented at the APSA Annual Meeting and carries a cash prize of $750.

Nomination Information

Eligibility: Nominees do not have to be members of APSA, affiliated with an institution in the United States, or an American citizen in order to be considered for an award.
Dissertations must have been successfully defended within the previous two calendar years (dissertations for the 2026 award must be defended in 2024 or 2025).

Self-nominations are accepted. Nominations from non-PhD departments and institutions are also welcome if the nominee is currently employed there.

APSA will accept only one nomination for the Schattschneider Award per school or political science department.

Award Committee

Chair

Jeremy Bailey, University of Florida

Member

Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha, University of North Texas

Member

Terri Bimes, University of California at Berkeley

Listing of Awardees

Year	Recipient	Dissertation	Submitted by
2025	Roxanne Rahnama	Myths and Monuments: Ideological Tools of Dominance and Symbolic Change	New York University
2024	Claire Willeck	Active Civics: How Civics Education Shapes Political Engagement	Princeton University
2023	Rachel Porter	Some Politics Are Still Local: Strategic Position Taking in Congress & Elections	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
2022	Matthew Graham and Matthew Nelsen	Misperceiving Misperceptions: How Surveys Distort the Nature of Partisan Belief Differences Educating for Empowerment: Race, Socialization, and Reimagining Civic Education	Yale University and Northwestern University
2021	Christina Kinane	Control without Confirmation: The Politics of Vacancies in Presidential Appointments	University of Michigan
2020	John A. Dearborn	The Representative Presidency: The Ideational Foundations of Institutional Development and Durability	Yale University
2019	Jacob Grumbach	Polarized Federalism: Activists, Voters, and the Resurgence of State Policy in the U.S.	University of California, Berkeley
2018	Benjamin Toff	The Blind Scorekeepers: Journalism, Polling, and the Battle to Define Public Opinion in American Politics	University of Wisconsin-Madison
2017	Mallory SoRelle	Democracy Declined: The Failed Politics of Consumer Credit	Cornell University
2016	Rachel Potter	Writing the Rules of the Game: The Strategic Logic of Agency Rulemaking	University of Michigan
2015	Danielle Thomsen	Party Fit in the US Congress: The Intersection of Ideology, Political Parties and Gender	Cornell University
2014	Sarah Anzia	Election Timing and the Political Influence of the Organized	Stanford University
2013	Jon Rogowski	Representation and the Electoral Connection	University of Chicago
2012	James M. Curry	Information Control: Leadership Power in the U.S. House of Representatives	University of Maryland, College Park
2011	Adam Seth Levine	Strategic Solicitation: Explaining When Requests for Political Donations Are Persuasive	University of Michigan
2010	Corwin D. Smidt	The Spinning Message: How New Media Coverage and Voter Persuasion Shape Campaign Agendas	Ohio State University
2009	Traci Burch	Punishment and Participation: How Criminal Convictions Threaten American Democracy	Harvard University
2008	Daniel Jacob Hopkins	When Differences Divide: How National Influences and Local Demographics Shape Politics Between Ethnic Groups	Harvard University
2007	Michael M. Franz	Choices and Changes: Interest Groups in the Electoral Process	University of Wisconsin
2006	Robert W. Mickey	Paths Out of Dixie: The Decay of Authoritarian Enclaves in America’s Deep South, 1944-1972	Harvard University
2005	Markus Prior	Post-Broadcast Democracy: How Greater Media Choice Changes Politics	Princeton University
2004	Jeremy David Bailey	Democratic Energy: Thomas Jefferson and the Development of Presidential Power	Boston College
2004	David Campbell	Participation in Context: How Communities and Schools Shape Civic Engagement	Harvard University
2003	Tracy Sulkin	Rethinking Responsiveness: Campaign Themes, Legislative Agendas, and the Politics of Issue Uptake	University of Washington
2002	Deborah Gould	Sex, Death, and the Politics of Anger: Emotions and Reason in ACT UP’s Fight Against AIDS	University of Chicago
2001	William Howell	Presidential Power and the Politics of Unilateral Action	Stanford University
2000	Glen S. Krutz	Explaining Institutional Change: The Rise and Impact of Omnibus Legislation	Texas A&M University
1999	Stephen P. Nicholson	Rethinking Voting Behavior: Agenda, Priming, and Spillover Effects in U.S. Elections	University of California, Davis
1998	Frances E. Lee	The Enduring Consequences of the Great Compromise: Senate Apportionment and Congressional Policymaking	Vanderbilt University
1997	Gregory Wawro	Legislative Entrepreneurship in the U.S. House of Representatives	Cornell University
1996	Sarah Binder	Minority Rights and Majority Rule: The Partisan Basis of Procedural Choice in Congress, 1789-1994	University of Minnesota
1996	Patricia Conley	Presidential Mandates: How Elections Shape the National Agenda	University of Chicago
1995	No award given
1994	Scott C. James	Coalition-Building, the Democracy, and the Development of American Regulatory Institutions, 1884-1936: A Party System Perspective	University of California, Los Angeles
1993	David King	Committee Jurisdictions and Institutional Change in the U.S. House of Representatives	University of Michigan
1992	George Douglas Dion	Removing the Obstructions: Minority Rights and the Politics of Procedural Change in the Nineteenth Century House of Representatives	University of Michigan
1991	Christopher Peter Gilbert	Religious Environments and Political Actors	Washington University
1990	Laura Stoker	Morality and the Study of Political Behavior	University of Michigan
1989	Victoria Hattam	Unions and Politics: The Courts and American Labor: 1806-1896	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1988	Mark C. Westlye	Dynamics of U.S. Senate Elections	University of California, Berkeley
1987	Lawrence Rothenberg	The Politics and Economics of Regulation and Deregulation: Motor Freight Policy at the Interstate Commerce Commission	Stanford University
1986	Mark Alex Peterson	Domestic Policy and Legislative Decision-Making: Congressional Responses to Presidential Initiatives	University of Michigan
1985	John Zaller	The Role of Elites in Shaping Public Opinion	University of California, Berkeley
1984	Larry M. Bartels	Presidential Primaries and the Dynamics of Public Choice	University of California, Berkeley
1983	Thomas W. Wolf	Congressional Sea Change: Conflict and Organizational Accommodation in the House of Representatives 1878-1921	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1982	Paul Light	The President’s Agenda: Domestic Policy Choice from Kennedy to Carter	University of Michigan
1981	Byron E. Shafer	The Party Reformed: Reform Politics in the Democratic Party, 1968-1972	University of California, Berkeley
1980	No award given
1979	Rodger Robert Huckfeldt	Political Behavior and the Social Context of Urban Neighborhoods	Washington University
1978	Michael T. Hayes	An Economic Theory of Interest Groups and Public Policy	Indiana University
1977	Kristi Andersen	How Realignments Happen: Mobilization and the Creation of a Democratic Majority, 1928-1936	University of Chicago
1976	W. Lance Bennett	The Political Mind and the Political Environment	Yale University
1975	Dall Worthington Forsythe	Taxation and Regime Change in America, 1781-1833: A Taxonomy of Political Events	Columbia University
1974	Lawrence E. McCray	The Politics of Regulation: Multi-firm Trade Associations in Telecommunications Policy Making	Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1973	Michael Jay Robinson	Public Affairs Television and the Growth of Political Malaise: The Case of the Selling of the Pentagon	University of Michigan
1972	Paul M. Sniderman	Personality and Democratic Politics: Correlates of Self-Esteem	University of California, Berkeley

Support for Scholarship

We are continually grateful for the contributions from APSA members and friends that make our work possible. Your donation helps continue the Schattschneider Award for future scholars researching American government. Thank you for your support of APSA and scholars across the discipline.