Harold D. Lasswell Award
Harold D. Lasswell Award
Nominations are closed.
The Lasswell Award honors the best doctoral dissertation in the field of public policy.
The award, co-supported by the APSA Organized Section on Public Policy, is presented at the APSA Annual Meeting and carries a cash prize of $1,000.
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 up to two nominations for the Lasswell Award per school or political science department.
Award Committee
Listing of Awardees
| Year | Author | Dissertation | Submitted by |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Shir Raviv | The Evolving Politics of Using AI Algorithms in Public Policy Implementation | Columbia University |
|
2024 |
Segregation and the Spatial Externalities of Inequality: A Theory of Interdependence and Public Goods in Cities |
University of Pennsylvania | |
|
2023 |
Green Catalysts? The Impact of Transnational Advocacy on Environmental Policy Leadership |
University of Michigan | |
|
2022 |
How She Reconfigures the State: Intersectional Advocacy & The movement to End Violence |
University of Chicago | |
|
2021 |
The Political Logics of Patronage: Uses and Abuses of Government Jobs in Brazil |
MIT | |
|
2020 |
Political Pollution Cycle: An Inconvenient Truth and How to Break It |
Stanford University | |
|
2019 |
The Distributive Politics of Non-State Welfare Provision |
Yale University | |
|
2018 |
Jonathan Mummolo |
Modern Police Tactics, Police-Citizen Interactions, and the Prospects for Reform |
Princeton University |
|
2017 |
Alexander Hertel-Fernandez |
Whose Bills? Corporate Interests and Conservative Mobilization Across the States |
Harvard University |
|
2016 |
Brian Palmer-Rubin |
Evading the Patronage Trap: Interest Organizations and Policymaking in Mexico |
University of California, Berkeley |
|
2015 |
Michael Hartney |
Turning Out Teachers: The Causes and Consequences of Teacher Political Activism in the Postwar United States |
University of Notre Dame |
|
2014 |
Sarah Anzia |
Election Timing and the Political Influence of the Organized |
Stanford University |
|
2013 |
Nicholas Carnes |
By the Upper Class, For the Upper Class? Representational Inequality and Economic Policymaking in the United States |
Princeton University |
|
2012 |
Christopher G. Faricy |
The Politics of Public Versus Private Social Welfare |
University of North Carolina |
|
2011 |
Jennifer Kavanagh |
The Dynamics of Protracted Terror Campaigns: Domestic Politics, |
University of Michigan |
|
2010 |
Karen Long Jusko |
The Political Representation of the Poor |
University of Michigan |
|
2009 |
Michael Schoon |
Building Robustness to Disturbance: Governance in Southern African Peace Parks |
Indiana University |
|
2008 |
Christian Breuing |
Institutions, Attention Shifts, and Changes within National Budgets |
University of Washington |
|
2007 |
Vanda Felbab-Brown |
Shooting Up: The Impact of Illicit Economies on Military Conflict |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
|
2006 |
Jonathan Ari Laurence |
Managing Transnational Religion: Muslims and the State in Western Europe (1974-2004) |
Boston College |
|
2005 |
Esther N. Mwangi |
Institutional Change and Politics: The Transformation of Property Rights in Kenya’s Maasailand |
International Food Policy Research Institute |
|
2005 |
Thad Williamson |
Sprawl, Justice, and Citizenship: A Philosophical and Empirical Inquiry |
Harvard University |
|
2004 |
Suzanne Christine Nielsen |
Preparing for War: The Dynamics of Peacetime Military Reform |
Harvard University |
|
2003 |
Kristin Anne Goss |
Disarmed: The Real American Gun Control Paradox |
Harvard University |