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 Freedom
1989 – Richard E. Flathman for The Philosophy and Politics of Freedom
1990 – no award given
1991 – Robert A. Dahl for Democracy and Its Critics
1992 – Charles W. Anderson for Pragmatic Liberalism
1993 – William A. Galston for Liberal Purposes: Goods, Virtues, and Diversity in the Liberal State
1994 – George Kateb for The Inner Ocean: Individualism and Democratic
1995 – John Rawls for Political Liberalism
1996 – William E. Scheuerman for Between the Norm and the Exception: The Frankfurt School and the Rule of Law
1997 – Mark Kingwell for A Civil Tongue: Justice, Dialogue, and the Politics of Pluralism
1998 – John Dryzek for Democracy in Capitalist Times: Ideals, Limits, and Struggles
1999 – Richard Dagger for Civic Virtues: Rights, Citizenship, and Republican Liberalism
2000 – no award given
2001 – Thomas A. Spragens, Jr. for Civic Liberalism: Reflections on Our Democratic Ideals
2002 – no award given
2003 – Ira Katznelson for Desolation and Enlightenment: Political Knowledge After Total War, Totalitarianism, and the Holocaust
2004 – Sheldon S. Wolin for Politics and Vision: Continuity and Innovation in Western Political Thought
2005 - George Klosko for Political Obligations
2006 - Martha Nausbaum for Frontiers of Justice
2007 - Richard Bellamy for Political Constitutionalism
2008 - Sharon Krause for Civil Passions
2009 - Murray Milgate and Shannon Stimson for After Adam Smith: A Century of Transformation in Politics and Political Economy