| 1 | Name: | Dr. Robert A. Dahl | |
| Institution: | Yale University | ||
| Year Elected: | 1960 | ||
| Class: | 3. Social Sciences | ||
| Subdivision: | 304. Jurisprudence and Political Science | ||
| Residency: | Resident | ||
| Living? : | Deceased | ||
| Birth Date: | 1915 | ||
| Death Date: | February 5, 2014 | ||
Robert Alan Dahl received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1940 and joined the faculty, teaching for more than 40 years before retiring in 1986 as the Sterling Professor of Political Science and Senior Research Scientist in Sociology. In his work he demonstrated an unusual ability to move between empirical research of a difficult and original type and, on the other hand, theoretical synthesis. His many books include Who Governs?: Democracy and Power in an American City (1961), in which he examined power structures in New Haven, Connecticut; Democracy and Its Critics (1989), in which he observed that modern countries, in lacking full citizen participation and policy control, fail to meet the ideals of a democracy; and How Democratic is the American Constitution? (2002), in which he argued that the United States Constitution is not nearly as democratic as it ought to be. Dr. Dahl was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, a corresponding member of the British Academy, and a past President of the American Political Science Association. He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1960. Robert Dahl died on February 5, 2014, at age 98 in Hamden, Connecticut. | |||