The David and Elaine Spitz Prize is an award for a book in liberal and/or democratic theory.
It is awarded annually by a panel based in the Department of Political Science of Columbia University, for the best book in the field published two years earlier. To be eligible, the book must be primarily theoretical rather than historical, and not a textbook or edited work. The latest prizewinner, After Adam Smith: A Century of Transformation in Politics and Political Economy, written by Murray Milgate and Shannon Stimson and published by Princeton University Press, was announced at the APSA Meetings in 2011.
Winners of the David and Elaine Spitz Prize:
1988 – Joseph Raz for The Morality of Freedom1989 – Richard E. Flathman for The Philosophy and Politics of Freedom1990 – no award given1991 – Robert A. Dahl for Democracy and Its Critics1992 – Charles W. Anderson for Pragmatic Liberalism1993 – William A. Galston for Liberal Purposes: Goods, Virtues, and Diversity in the Liberal State1994 – George Kateb for The Inner Ocean: Individualism and Democratic1995 – John Rawls for Political Liberalism1996 – William E. Scheuerman for Between the Norm and the Exception: The Frankfurt School and the Rule of Law1997 – Mark Kingwell for A Civil Tongue: Justice, Dialogue, and the Politics of Pluralism1998 – John Dryzek for Democracy in Capitalist Times: Ideals, Limits, and Struggles1999 – Richard Dagger for Civic Virtues: Rights, Citizenship, and Republican Liberalism2000 – no award given2001 – Thomas A. Spragens, Jr. for Civic Liberalism: Reflections on Our Democratic Ideals2002 – no award given2003 – Ira Katznelson for Desolation and Enlightenment: Political Knowledge After Total War, Totalitarianism, and the Holocaust2004 – Sheldon S. Wolin for Politics and Vision: Continuity and Innovation in Western Political Thought2005 - George Klosko for Political Obligations2006 - Martha Nausbaum for Frontiers of Justice2007 - Richard Bellamy for Political Constitutionalism2008 - Sharon Krause for Civil Passions2009 - Murray Milgate and Shannon Stimson for After Adam Smith: A Century of Transformation in Politics and Political Economy