Pierre Rosanvallon is the foremost theorist and historian of democracy in France. His most recent book, Le Bon Gouvernement (Éditions du Seuil, 2015), examines the history of democratic executive power and proposes a renewal of contemporary government. Le Bon Gouvernement concludes a four-book series on democracy that includes La Société des Égaux (The Society of Equals), La Légitimité Démocratique (Democratic Legitimacy: Impartiality, Reflexivity, Proximity), and La Contre-Démocratie (Counter-Democracy: Politics in an Age of Distrust). In 2014, Rosanvallon launched the citizenship initiative “Raconter la vie” in France. His most important early work has been translated in English in Democracy Past and Future (Columbia, 2007).
Since 2001, Rosanvallon has served as Professor and Chair of Modern and Contemporary History of the Political at the Collège de France, one of the most prestigious appointments in France. His 2014-2015 course focused on the forms of executive power in democratic regimes. He is also a Director of Studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and the founder of the print series La République des Idées and LaViedesIdees.fr.
Rosanvallon is the inaugural fellow in the SSRC Anxieties of Democracy series and will publicly present his work at the Roosevelt House on November 12, 2015 (RSVP here) and at Albertine in the French Embassy on Friday, November 13, 2015 (event link here)