An influential political theorist, Professor Manin was probably best-known among philosophers for his contributions to democratic theory. The political theorist Melissa Schwartzberg, Chair of the Department of Politics at NYU, kindly shared this memorial notice (below the fold):
Political theorist Bernard Manin died in Marseille on Friday, November 1, 2024; before his retirement, he had been director of studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales and Professor of Politics at New York University.
After graduating from the École normale supérieure de la rue d'Ulm, and obtaining the agrégation in philosophy, he embarked on a dual career in France and the United States. Recruited by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in 1982, he subsequently became a professor at Science Po Paris, before being elected to the EHESS in 2005. He also spent time at the Institute for Advanced Studies prior to joining the political science faculty at the University of Chicago in 1990; he moved to New York University in 1996. He received honorary doctorates from the universities of Lausanne, Liège and Urbino, and was awarded the CNRS silver medal in 2015.
Manin’s first books, with Alain Bergonioux, focused on social democracy. But he was best known for his work in democratic theory, notably the landmark work, Principles of Representative Government, published in English by Cambridge University Press in 1997. In Principles, Manin analyzed the historical emergence of representative government and its central institution, election; he pointed out that whereas, from antiquity, lottery had been the key democratic institution, elections were considered aristocratic (or oligarchic). In the modern period, he argued, representative governments contain both elements, akin to the mixed regimes of the ancient world. Editions Hermann has just published a collection of his essays on Montesquieu; two other volumes - a collection of his articles on deliberation, and a book on the French Revolution and the Terror - will appear in the coming years.
A beloved teacher and adviser, he was notable for his personal warmth and generosity, as well as his deeply egalitarian spirit.
Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Manin or for those who wish to comment on the significance of his work.
