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CSD Home > About the Center > News > News Details

News Details:

Title: Taagepera awarded $75,000 Johan Skytte Prize for work in political science

Date Entered: 2008-09-24  Details: Rein Taagepera, political science professor emeritus at UC Irvine, has been awarded the Johan Skytte Prize for his analysis of the function of electoral systems in representative democracy. The Skytte Foundation, based at Uppsala University in Sweden, annually awards the prize to the scholar who has made the most valuable contribution to political science. As the 2008 award winner, Taagepera joins the company of 13 prestigious past recipients, seven of whom are past presidents of the American Political Science Association.     "This is an extraordinary honor for Professor Taagepera, the department and the university," says Mark Petracca, political science associate professor and department chair. "Often called the 'Nobel Prize' in political science, the Skytte Prize is one of the highest international honors a political scientist can receive."     Taagepera accepted the award - which is accompanied by a $75,000 prize - at a ceremony in Sweden in September.     A native of Estonia, Taagepera joined the UC Irvine faculty in 1970. He is the author of more than 100 research articles ranging in topic from nuclear physics, arms races and corruption, to population growth and linguistic studies. He is the founding dean of the School of Social Sciences at Tartu University in Estonia and served for two years as the president of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies. He currently splits his time as an emeritus professor at both UC Irvine and Tartu University, Estonia.     In honor of his receipt of the Skytte Prize, the political science department and Center for the Study of Democracy are sponsoring a reception for Taagepera on Monday, October 13, 2008 in Social Science Plaza A, Room 2112. All UCI faculty and students are welcome.