Mattei Dogan Foundation Prize

Professor of Political Sociology at the Department of Sociology, University of Vienna

Professor of Political Sociology at the Department of Sociology, University of Vienna

Visiting Professor at the Swedish School of Social Science , University of Helsinki

Chair of Comparative Politics, University of Zurich

The 2015 Prize was awarded to Maurizio Cotta, University of Sienna. In its motivation, the jury referred to the various significant contributions Professor Cotta has made to European political sociology, through his research and other academic activities. The Jury also noted his important contribution to the field of political sociology via his works on elites, in the footsteps of Mattei Dogan. Maurizio has co-edited several volumes on elites in Italy and Europe; has lead several significant European research projects (EUENGAGE, INTUNE) that have dealt with elite attitudes towards European integration and the links between public opinion and political and social elites; and has contributed to the revival of the comparative study of parliamentary elites both in Western and Eastern Europe. Maurizio Cotta is Professor of Political Science at the University of Siena and Director of the PhD programme in Comparative and European Politics and of the Master programme 'Politics in Europe'. Professor Cotta was a member of the ECPR's Executive Committee between 1994 and 2000 and Chairman of the Italian Political Science Association (2001—). His main research interests are in the field of the comparative study of political elites and political institutions and of Italian politics.

The 2013 Prize was awarded to Virginie Guiraudon, who at the time of winning was Research Director at Sciences Po Paris Center for European Studies. The Jury felt that Professor Guiraudon has made a significant contribution to European political sociology, through her impactful research and academic activities. A recipient of several other prestigious prizes, including the George Lavau award for best PhD on French contemporary politics (Harvard 1999) and the CNRS bronze medal, Professor Guiraudon has published widely on European public policies, citizenship, immigration and multiculturalism in Europe. Among her professional engagements, Professor Guiraudon was a founder of the political sociology research network of the European Sociological Association, she sits on the editorial board of European Political Science Review, and she is a member of the Executive Committee for the Council for European Studies. Virginie Guiraudon holds a PhD in Government from Harvard University. She has been a Marie Curie professor at the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence (Italy), Visiting Professor at the UCLA (USA), Doshisha University (Japan), UNISA (South Africa) and the CEPC (Madrid). Her main interests lie in the comparative politics of immigration, citizenship and ethnicity.

The 2011 Prize was awarded to Donatella della Porta, whose scholarly contributions to political sociology have ranged across a wide number of key sub-fields in the discipline. These include civil society, political violence, policing and public order, terrorism – and most prominently social movements, including its domestic, European and global dimensions. Her professional achievements include being the coordinator of several comparative European research projects on democratisation, contentious politics and social activism. Most recently, she has started a major European Research Council project entitled 'Mobilising Europe for Democracy', which will deal with civil society participation in democratisation processes in Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. Donatella is professor of sociology in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute. She has directed the Demos project, devoted to the analysis of conceptions and practices of democracy in social movements in six European countries. She is now starting a major ERC project Mobilising for Democracy, on civil society participation in democratisation processes in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. Her main fields of research are social movements, the policing of public order, participatory democracy and political corruption.

The 2009 Prize was awarded to Richard Rose. A founding father of the ECPR, he has been one of the biggest names in political science and 'political sociology' since the late 1950s and early 1960s. He has written frequently and across the range and has published on Northern Ireland, the United States, English and British Politics, and most recently post-Communist politics. He has been widely translated and served the profession across the world. Parties and Elections in New European Democracies (with Neil Munro) was published by ECPR Press in April 2009.

The 2007 Prize was awarded to Giovanni Sartori (1924–2017). Sartori graduated in Political and Social Sciences at the University of Florence in 1946 where, after qualifying for teaching History of Modern Philosophy and Doctrine of the State, he became a lecturer in Modern Philosophy (1950–56) and Political Science (1956–63), and professor of Sociology (1963–66). After becoming full professor of Political Science and teaching at Florence University from 1966 to 1976 he taught also at the European University Institute (1974–76) and later became professor of Political Science at Stanford University (1976–79). Latterly, Professor Sartori was Albert Schweitzer Professor Emeritus in the Humanities at Columbia University, New York, and Professor Emeritus at the University of Florence. After having given a vital contribution to the development of the Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia, Professor Sartori was the founder and longtime director of the Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica (1971–2003).