Melissa S. Williams (born 1960) is an American academic who specialises in

democratic theory Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose gov ...

and comparative political theory. She was the founding director of the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

's Centre for Ethics. As of 2018, she is a professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. She gained an MESc from

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United ...

and AM and PhD degrees from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. Her doctoral advisers were

Judith Shklar Judith Nisse Shklar (September 24, 1928 – September 17, 1992) was a philosopher and political theorist who studied the history of political thought, notably that of the Enlightenment period. She was appointed the John Cowles Professor of Governm ...

and Dennis F. Thompson. Her PhD thesis won the American Political Science Association's Leo Strauss Award. A major work is the book ''Voice, Trust, and Memory: Marginalized Groups and the Failings of Liberal Representation'', published by

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financia ...

(1998), which won a First Book Award in political theory or political philosophy from the American Political Science Association in 1999. She has been editor of the journal ''NOMOS'' of the

American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy The American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy (ASPLP) is a learned society founded in 1955 by political theorist Carl Friedrich. Its aim is to bring together scholars in political science, law, and philosophy who are interested in inter ...

Selected publications

;Books *Melissa S. Williams. ''Voice, Trust, and Memory: Marginalized Groups and the Failings of Liberal Representation'' (

; 1998, 2000) *David Kahane, Daniel Weinstock, Dominique Leydet, Melissa Williams, eds. ''Deliberative Democracy in Practice'' (University of British Columbia Press; 2010) *Melissa Williams. ''Equality: A Critical Introduction'' (

Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law ...

; 2014) *Joseph Chan, Doh Chull Shin, Melissa S. Williams, eds. ''East Asian Perspectives on Political Legitimacy: Bridging the Empirical-Normative Divide'' (

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pre ...

; 2016) ;Essays and research papers *Melissa S. Williams (1995). Justice toward groups: Political not juridical. '' Political Theory'' 23: 67–91 *Melissa S. Williams. "Citizenship as Identity, Citizenship as Shared Fate, and the Functions of Multicultural Education" in Kevin McDonough, Walter Feinberg (eds), ''Citizenship and Education in Liberal-Democratic Societies: Teaching for Cosmopolitan Values and Collective Identities'' (

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

; 2003)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Melissa Living people 1960 births Bryn Mawr College alumni Harvard University alumni Academic staff of the University of Toronto Canadian political philosophers