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 go ...

and comparative

political theory Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...

. She was the founding director of the University of Toronto'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 and AM and PhD degrees from Harvard University. Her doctoral advisers were Judith Shklar and

Dennis F. Thompson Dennis Frank Thompson (born 12 May 1940, in Hamilton, Ohio) is a political scientist and professor at Harvard University, where he founded the university-wide Center for Ethics and the Professions (now the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics). Thomp ...

. Her PhD thesis won the

American Political Science Association The American Political Science Association (APSA) is a professional association of political science students and scholars in the United States. Founded in 1903 in the Tilton Memorial Library (now Tilton Hall) of Tulane University in New Orleans, ...

'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 (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'' ( Princeton University Press; 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; 2014) *Joseph Chan, Doh Chull Shin, Melissa S. Williams, eds. ''East Asian Perspectives on Political Legitimacy: Bridging the Empirical-Normative Divide'' ( Cambridge University Press; 2016) ;Essays and research papers *Melissa S. Williams (1995). Justice toward groups: Political not juridical. ''

Political Theory Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them. Its topics include politics, l ...

'' 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; 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