Stephen Skowronek (born 1951) is an American political scientist, noted for his research on American national institutions and the U.S. presidency, and for helping to stimulate the study of American political development.

Early life and education

Skowronek grew up in Bridgewater, New Jersey, where he graduated from high school in 1969. He attended Oberlin College, completing a B.A. in 1973. He earned a Ph.D. in political science from Cornell University in 1979. His doctoral dissertation was revised and published as his first book, Building a New American State (1982).

Career

Skowronek taught at Cornell and UCLA before becoming a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in 1985. He joined the political science faculty of Yale University in 1986, and has been Pelatiah Perit Professor of Political and Social Science at Yale since 1999. He has also been a visiting professor at several American and European universities, including as Chair in American Civilization at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris in 1996-1997. He was the Wynant Visiting Professor at the Rothermere American Institute and Balliol College, Oxford in 2018-2019. Skowronek has collaborated with Karen Orren on several projects, including founding the academic journal Studies in American Political Development in 1986, and writing the book The Search for American Political Development (2004). Through their work, Skowronek and Orren have promoted the growth of American political development (or APD) as a distinct subfield within the discipline of political science. The first edition of Skowronek's book The Politics Presidents Make (1993) won two awards from the American Political Science Association (APSA): the J. David Greenstone Prize for best book in politics and history and the Richard E. Neustadt Prize for best book on the American presidency. In 2017 this book was the third on the presidency awarded the APSA Legacy Prize for its lasting influence. Skowronek served as President of the Politics and History Section of APSA for 1994-1995.

Publications

Sources