David Walter Runciman, 4th Viscount Runciman of Doxford, (born 1 March 1967) is an English academic who teaches politics and history at
Cambridge University
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, where he is Professor of Politics. From October 2014 to October 2018 he was also Head of the Department of Politics and International Studies.
Family and early life
Runciman was born in
St John's Wood
St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from ...
, North London, England, and grew up there. His father,
Garry Runciman, Viscount Runciman, was a political sociologist and academic and his mother,
Ruth Runciman
Dame Ruth Runciman DBE (née Hellman; 9 January 1936) is a former Chair of the UK Mental Health Act Commission.
She attended the Rodean School, Johannesburg and graduated from Witwatersrand University, also in Johannesburg, earning her baccalaure ...
, is former chair of the
UK Mental Health Commission, a founder of the
Prison Reform Trust
The Prison Reform Trust (PRT) was founded in 1981 in London, England, by a small group of prison reform campaigners who were unhappy with the direction in which the Howard League for Penal Reform was heading, concentrating more on community punish ...
and former chair of the
National Aids Trust. His father, mother, and paternal grandfather and great-grandfather all attended Cambridge.
He was educated at
Eton College
Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...
, an all-boys
public school
Public school may refer to:
* State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government
* Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...
in Berkshire, where he won the
Newcastle Scholarship
The Newcastle Scholarship is an annual prize awarded at Eton College in England for the highest performance in a series of special written examinations taken over the course of a week. It was instituted and first awarded in 1829 and is the college ...
. He went on to study at
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...
.
Runciman is the great-nephew of the historian Sir
Steven Runciman
Sir James Cochran Stevenson Runciman ( – ), known as Steven Runciman, was an English historian best known for his three-volume ''A History of the Crusades'' (1951–54).
He was a strong admirer of the Byzantine Empire. His history's negative ...
. He inherited
his family's viscountcy on the death of his father in 2020. From 1997 to 2021 he was married to the food writer
Bee Wilson
Beatrice Dorothy "Bee" Wilson (born 7 March 1974) is a British food writer, journalist and the author of seven books on food-related subjects as well as a campaigner for food education through the charity TastEd. She writes the 'Table Talk' colu ...
with whom he has three children.
Since 2021 he has been married to psychotherapist Helen Runciman (née Lyon-Dalberg-Acton), daughter of
Edward Acton.
Career
Runciman began writing for the ''
London Review of Books
The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews.
History
The ''London Review of ...
'' in 1996 and has written dozens of book reviews and articles on contemporary politics since, for the ''LRB'' and a number of other publications.
Runciman has published eight books. An adaptation of his PhD thesis was published in 1997 as ''Pluralism and the Personality of the State''. ''The Politics of Good Intentions: History, Fear and Hypocrisy in the New World Order'' (2006) evaluates contemporary and historical crisis in international politics after
9/11
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...
while ''Political Hypocrisy'' (2008) explores the political uses of hypocrisy from a historical perspective. ''The Confidence Trap: A History of Democracy in Crisis from World War I to the Present'' (2013) lays out his theory of the threat of democratic overconfidence. Profile Books published his books ''Politics: Ideas in Profile'' and ''How Democracy Ends'' in 2014 and 2018, respectively. In 2021 he published "Confronting Leviathan: A History of Ideas" looking at some of the most important thinkers and ideas in modern politics.
In October 2014, he was appointed head of the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge. Runciman gave his inaugural lecture on 24 February 2015 on Political Theory and Real Politics in the Age of the Internet.
He was preceded in this position by
Andrew Gamble
Andrew Michael Gamble (born 15 August 1947) is a British scholar of politics. He was Professor of Politics at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Queens' College from 2007 to 2014. He was a member of the Department of Politics at the Univ ...
and
Geoffrey Hawthorn
Geoffrey Hawthorn (28 February 1941 in Slough – 31 December 2015) was a British Professor on International Politics and Social and Political Theory and Head of the Department of Political Sciences and International Politics at the University of ...
.
One of Runciman's most influential works is ''Politics: Ideas in Profile.'' This book explores what politics is, why do we need it and where, in these troubling times, is it heading. Taking the reader across topics such as the gap between rich and poor to the impact of social media on our political climate, it is a useful resource for anyone who is interested in learning about how politics shapes the world. With reference to Machiavelli, Hobbes and Weber, Runciman answers the questions that many ask themselves when discussing politics; such as how there can be such disparity between the wealthiest nations and the least developed.
From 2016 to 2022, Runciman hosted a podcast called
Talking Politics
David Walter Runciman, 4th Viscount Runciman of Doxford, (born 1 March 1967) is an English academic who teaches politics and history at Cambridge University, where he is Professor of Politics. From October 2014 to October 2018 he was also Head ...
with Professor
Helen Thompson. The podcast convened a panel of academics from the University of Cambridge and elsewhere to speak about current affairs and politics. It ended in March 2022 after over 300 episodes and 26 million downloads. Runciman also hosted a spin-off podcast named Talking Politics: History of Ideas. This podcast focused on key thinkers and ideologies from throughout history.
In July 2018, Runciman was elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA).
In July 2021, he was elected Fellow of the
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...
(FRSL).
Runciman was PhD supervisor to
Tara Westover
Tara Jane Westover (born September 27, 1986) is an American memoirist, essayist and historian. Her memoir '' Educated'' (2018) debuted at No. 1 on ''The New York Times'' bestseller list and was a finalist for a number of national awards, includin ...
, the author of ''
Educated
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...
''.
How Democracy Ends
Published by Profile Books in 2018, 'How Democracy Ends' takes a look at the political landscape of the West, showing us how to spot the signs that democracy may be under threat. Set out in four major sections:
1. Looking at the role of Coups in ending democracy, looking at both modern and ancient Greece in the process.
2. How major world-shattering catastrophes could kill off democracy, be that nuclear war or the Climate Crisis.
3. He takes a look at our rapidly changing society, specifically technologically and how the advent of Artificial Intelligence could soon be a problem.
4. Lastly he takes a look into the future, whether democracy will actually end and if it does, could it be replaced by something better?
Reviews of the book have been received generally positively. Getting a 3.7 out of 5 stars on 'goodreads' and 4.4 out of 5 stars on Amazon.
Andrew Rawnsley
Andrew Nicholas James Rawnsley (born 5 January 1962) is a British political journalist and broadcaster. A columnist and chief political commentator for ''The Observer'', he has written two books on New Labour.
Early life
Rawnsley was born in Le ...
in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' wrote that the book left him "feeling more positive than I thought I would be"
Criticism
After a negative book review in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' of ''Antifragility'' by
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (; alternatively ''Nessim ''or'' Nissim''; born 12 September 1960) is a Lebanese-American essayist, mathematical statistician, former option trader, risk analyst, and aphorist whose work concerns problems of randomness, ...
, Taleb referred to Runciman as the "second most stupid reviewer" of his works, arguing that Runciman had missed the concept of
convexity
Convex or convexity may refer to:
Science and technology
* Convex lens, in optics
Mathematics
* Convex set, containing the whole line segment that joins points
** Convex polygon, a polygon which encloses a convex set of points
** Convex polytope, ...
, the theme of his book. "There are 607 references to convexity", Taleb wrote.
Selected works
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References
External links
University of Cambridge profile page*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Runciman, David
1967 births
Living people
People from St John's Wood
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
English people of Scottish descent
People educated at Eton College
Fellows of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
English political scientists
English political writers
English male journalists
The Guardian journalists
Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
Date of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)
David Runciman
David Walter Runciman, 4th Viscount Runciman of Doxford, (born 1 March 1967) is an English academic who teaches politics and history at Cambridge University, where he is Professor of Politics. From October 2014 to October 2018 he was also Head ...
Fellows of the British Academy
English podcasters