Margaret Levi
Encyclopedia
Margaret Levi is an American
political scientist and author
, noted for her work in comparative
political economy
, labor politics
, and democratic theory, notably on the origins and effects of trustworthy government
.
Levi graduated with a B.A.
from Bryn Mawr College
in 1968 and completed a Ph.D.
degree in government
at Harvard University
in 1974. Since then, she has taught at the University of Washington
in Seattle, where she is presently a professor
of international studies
in the department
of political science
. She has a joint appointment as Chair in US Politics at the United States Studies Centre
at the University of Sydney
. Levi has been a visiting professor at numerous institutions, including the Max Planck Institute, Oxford University
, the European University Institute
, the London School of Economics
, and the Australian National University
.
Levi's book Of Rule and Revenue (1988), a study of the institutions of state revenue production, helped pioneer rational choice
approaches in comparative politics
. She has since pushed rational choice analysis into new substantive areas, for example, in examining people's acceptance of military conscription
in Consent, Dissent, and Patriotism (1997).
Levi was elected as a Fellow
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
in 2001 and was president of the American Political Science Association
for 2004-05. She is the editor
of the Annual Review of Political Science
, and serves on the editorial board
s of several journals
, including Politics & Society, Rationality and Society, and Political Studies.
Levi and her husband Robert Kaplan have a large collection of indigenous Australian art, part of which is on loan to and displayed at the Seattle Art Museum
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
political scientist and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, noted for her work in comparative
Comparative politics
Comparative politics is a subfield of political science, characterized by an empirical approach based on the comparative method. Arend Lijphart argues that comparative politics does not have a substantive focus in itself, but rather a methodological one: it focuses on "the how but does not specify...
political economy
Political economy
Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
, labor politics
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
, and democratic theory, notably on the origins and effects of trustworthy government
Government
Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...
.
Levi graduated with a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
from Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College
Bryn Mawr College is a women's liberal arts college located in Bryn Mawr, a community in Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, ten miles west of Philadelphia. The name "Bryn Mawr" means "big hill" in Welsh....
in 1968 and completed a Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
degree in government
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1974. Since then, she has taught at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
in Seattle, where she is presently a professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of international studies
International relations
International relations is the study of relationships between countries, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations , international nongovernmental organizations , non-governmental organizations and multinational corporations...
in the department
Academic department
An academic department is a division of a university or school faculty devoted to a particular academic discipline. This article covers United States usage at the university level....
of political science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
. She has a joint appointment as Chair in US Politics at the United States Studies Centre
United States Studies Centre
The United States Studies Centre is located at the University of Sydney, and aims to increase understanding of the United States in Australia. The centre provides courses for undergraduate and postgraduate students, and hosts public and business forums....
at the University of Sydney
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
. Levi has been a visiting professor at numerous institutions, including the Max Planck Institute, Oxford University
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, the European University Institute
European University Institute
The European University Institute ' in Florence is an international postgraduate and post-doctoral teaching and research institute established by European Union member states to contribute to cultural and scientific development in the social sciences, in a European perspective...
, the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
, and the Australian National University
Australian National University
The Australian National University is a teaching and research university located in the Australian capital, Canberra.As of 2009, the ANU employs 3,945 administrative staff who teach approximately 10,000 undergraduates, and 7,500 postgraduate students...
.
Levi's book Of Rule and Revenue (1988), a study of the institutions of state revenue production, helped pioneer rational choice
Rational choice theory
Rational choice theory, also known as choice theory or rational action theory, is a framework for understanding and often formally modeling social and economic behavior. It is the main theoretical paradigm in the currently-dominant school of microeconomics...
approaches in comparative politics
Comparative politics
Comparative politics is a subfield of political science, characterized by an empirical approach based on the comparative method. Arend Lijphart argues that comparative politics does not have a substantive focus in itself, but rather a methodological one: it focuses on "the how but does not specify...
. She has since pushed rational choice analysis into new substantive areas, for example, in examining people's acceptance of military conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
in Consent, Dissent, and Patriotism (1997).
Levi was elected as a Fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
in 2001 and was president of the American Political Science Association
American Political Science Association
The American Political Science Association is a professional association of political science students and scholars in the United States. Founded in 1903, it publishes three academic journals...
for 2004-05. She is the editor
Editing
Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, and film media used to convey information through the processes of correction, condensation, organization, and other modifications performed with an intention of producing a correct, consistent, accurate, and complete...
of the Annual Review of Political Science
Annual Reviews
Annual Reviews, located in Palo Alto California, is the non-profit publisher of a collection of 41 review series in specific disciplines in science and social science. Each review series contains 12 to 40 authoritative comprehensive review articles, covering the major journal articles on a...
, and serves on the editorial board
Editorial board
The editorial board is a group of people, usually at a publication, who dictate the tone and direction the publication's editorial policy will take.- Board makeup :...
s of several journals
Academic journal
An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...
, including Politics & Society, Rationality and Society, and Political Studies.
Levi and her husband Robert Kaplan have a large collection of indigenous Australian art, part of which is on loan to and displayed at the Seattle Art Museum
Seattle Art Museum
The Seattle Art Museum is an art museum located in Seattle, Washington, USA. It maintains three major facilities: its main museum in downtown Seattle; the Seattle Asian Art Museum in Volunteer Park on Capitol Hill, and the Olympic Sculpture Park on the central Seattle waterfront, which opened on...
.
Select Publications
- "Why We Need a New Theory of Government." 2006. Perspectives on Politics 4(1): 5-19.
- Cooperation without Trust? 2005. Russell Sage FoundationRussell Sage FoundationThe Russell Sage Foundation is the principal American foundation devoted exclusively to research in the social sciences. Founded in 1907 and headquartered in New York City, the foundation is a research center, a funding source for studies by scholars at other institutions, and a key member of the...
. (written with Karen Cook and Russell Hardin). - “Organizing Power: Prospects for the American Labor Movement.” 2003. Perspectives on Politics 1(1): 45–68.
- “The Economic Turn in Comparative Politics.” 2000. Comparative Political Studies 33(6/7): 822–844.
- "Political Trust and Trustworthiness." 2000. Annual Review of Political Science 3:475-507. (written with Laura Stoker).
- Competition and Cooperation: Conversations with Nobelists about Economics and Political Science. 1999. Russell Sage FoundationRussell Sage FoundationThe Russell Sage Foundation is the principal American foundation devoted exclusively to research in the social sciences. Founded in 1907 and headquartered in New York City, the foundation is a research center, a funding source for studies by scholars at other institutions, and a key member of the...
. (edited with James Alt and Elinor Ostrom). - Analytic Narratives. 1998. Princeton University PressPrinceton University Press-Further reading:* "". Artforum International, 2005.-External links:* * * * *...
. (written with Robert Bates, Avner Greif, Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, and Barry Weingast). - Trust and Governance. 1998. Russell Sage FoundationRussell Sage FoundationThe Russell Sage Foundation is the principal American foundation devoted exclusively to research in the social sciences. Founded in 1907 and headquartered in New York City, the foundation is a research center, a funding source for studies by scholars at other institutions, and a key member of the...
. (edited with Valerie Braithwaite). - "Social and Unsocial Capital: A Review Essay of Robert Putnam's Making Democracy WorkMaking Democracy WorkMaking Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy is a 1993 book written by Robert Putnam . Published by Princeton University Press, the book's central thesis is that social capital is key to high institutional performance and the maintenance of democracy...
." Politics & Society 24(1): 45-55. - Consent, Dissent, and Patriotism. 1997. Cambridge University PressCambridge University PressCambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
. - Marxism. 1991. Edward Elgar. (editor).
- The Limits of Rationality. 1990. University of Chicago PressUniversity of Chicago PressThe University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including Critical Inquiry, and a wide array of...
. (edited with Karen Cook). - Of Rule and Revenue. 1988. University of California PressUniversity of California PressUniversity of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...
. - Bureaucratic Insurgency: The Case of Police Unions. 1977. Lexington Books.
Sources
- Hanson, Stephen, Joseph Jupille, David Olson, and Barry Weingast. 2004. "Margaret Levi: Institutions, Individuals, Organizations, and Trust in Democratic Regimes." PS: Political Science and Politics 37(4): 895-898.