Mitchell A. Seligson (died June 1, 2024) was the Centennial Professor of Political Science and Professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University.Mitchell A. Seligson He founded and was Senior Advisor to the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP), which conducts the AmericasBarometer surveys that currently cover 27 countries in the Americas. Seligson has published many books and papers on political science topics. He was elected to membership in the General Assembly of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights in 2011.
Career Seligson held the Daniel H. Wallace Chair of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh, and served as director of their Center for Latin American Studies.
He has been a Fulbright Fellow and has received grants and fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the National Science Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, the Howard Heinz Foundation, the U.S. Department of Education, USAID and others. He has chaired or co-chaired 40 Ph.D. dissertations. He was awarded the James A. Robertson Memorial Prize for the best paper in Latin American history, the Hoover Institution Annual Prize for the Best Scholarly Article on Latin America, and the Best Paper Award (Pi Sigma Alpha) at the Annual Meeting of the Southwestern Political Science Association. Seligson was a founding member of the International Advisory Board (IAB) of the AfroBarometer. He has been appointed to the Academic Board (Consejo Académico) of the research institute, “Mexico, las Américas y el Mundo,” at CIDE Mexico (Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas A.C.), and was an appointed member of the World Bank Technical Expert Group (TEC) on Actionable Governance Indicators (AGI).
He was an elected member of the General Assembly of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights. He has consulted for USAID, the World Bank, the UNDP and the IADB. He served on the National Academy of Sciences panel studying the impact of foreign assistance and democracy, and was an appointed member of the Organization of American States (OAS) Advisory Board of Inter-American Program on Education for Democratic Values and Practices, and a member of the editorial boards of the European Political Science Review (Cambridge University Press) the Journal of Democracy en Español, Comparative Political Studies, Revista Opinião Pública, the Political Analysis series, Palgrave Macmillan, Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina y el Caribe, the Colombia Internacional (University of Los Andes) and the Delaware Review of Latin American Studies (DeRLAS).
Since 2017 a research prize has been named in honor of Mitchell Seligson. The Seligson Prize is awarded annually to academic research that uses LAPOP’s AmericasBarometer data and that is published or finalized within two calendar years of each annual call.
Literary career He has published over 140 articles, 14 books and more than a 35 monographs and occasional papers. His most recent books are The Legitimacy Puzzle in Latin America: Democracy and Political Support in Eight Nations (Cambridge University Press, 2009), co-authored with John Booth, and Development and Underdevelopment, the Political Economy of Global Inequality (Fourth Edition, Lynne Reinner Publishers, co-edited with John Passé-Smith, 2008 and Fifth Edition, 2014).
Books Development and Underdevelopment: The Political Economy of Global Inequality, co-edited with John Passé-Smith. Boulder, CO:Lynne Reinner Publishers, 5th edition, 2014. John Booth and Mitchell A. Seligson, The Legitimacy Puzzle: Democracy and Political Support in Eight Latin American Nations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. Development and Underdevelopment: The Political Economy of Global Inequality, 3rd edition, co-edited with John Passé-Smith. Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner Publishers, 2003 Development and Underdevelopment: The Political Economy of Global Inequality, co-edited with John Passé-Smith. Boulder, CO:Lynne Reinner Publishers, 1998. Elections and Democracy in Central America, Revisited, co-edited with John A. Booth. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995. Development and Underdevelopment: The Political Economy of Inequality, co-edited with John Passé-Smith. Boulder, CO: Lynne Reinner Publishers, 1993. Elections and Democracy in Central America, co-edited with John A. Booth. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989. Authoritarians and Democrats: Regime Transition in Latin America, co-edited with James M. Malloy. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1987. The Gap Between Rich and Poor: Contending Perspectives on the Political Economy of Development, (ed.) Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1984. Maquiladoras and Migration: Workers in the Mexico-United States Border Industrialization Program, co-authored with Edward J. Williams. Austin: University of Texas Press Services (1982). El campesino y el capitalismo agrario de Costa Rica. Translation of above, San José, Costa Rica: Editorial Costa Rica (1980). Second revised edition, 1984. Peasants of Costa Rica and the Development of Agrarian Capitalism. Madison and London: University of Wisconsin Press (1980). Politics and the Poor: Political Participation in Latin America, Vol. II, co-edited with John A. Booth. New York and London: Holmes and Meier Publishers (1979). Citizen and State: Political Participation in Latin America, Vol. I, co-edited with John A. Booth. New York and London: Holmes and Meier Publishers (1978).
Selected articles
”Old Wine in New Bottles: The Utility of Data Reanalysis in the Social Sciences“ Historical Methods Newsletter, 5 (June, 1972), pp. 101–107. ”The ‘Dual Society’ Thesis in Latin America: A Reexamination of the Costa Rican Case“ Social Forces 51:1 (September, 1972), pp. 91–98. Revised, translated and reprinted: *”La tesis de 'la sociedad dual' en América Latina: una reexaminación del caso de Costa Rica“ Revista de ciencias sociales, (Costa Rica) 10 (octubre 1975), pp. 33–47. ”Transactions and Community Formation: Fifteen Years of Growth and Stagnation in Central America“ Journal of Common Market Studies, 11 (March, 1973), pp. 173–190. ”Applying Quantitative Techniques to Quantitative History: The Case of Mexico“ with Felix G. Boni, Latin American Research Review, 8 (Summer, 1973), pp. 105–110. ”Agrarian Policy in Dependent Societies: Costa Rica“ Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 19 (May, 1977), pp. 201–32. ”Political Participation in Latin America: An Agenda for Research“ with John A. Booth, Latin American Research Review, 11 (Fall, 1976), pp. 95–119. ”Prestige Among Peasants: A Multidimensional Analysis of Preference Data“ American Journal of Sociology, 83 (November, 1977), pp. 632–52. ”Language and Political Behavior: A Methodology for Utilizing the Linguistic Component of Socioeconomic Status“ American Journal of Political Science 22 (August, 1978), pp. 712–741, co-authored with Susan Berk-Seligson. ”Peasants as Activists: A Reevaluation of Political Participation in the Countryside“ with John A. Booth. Comparative Political Studies 12 (April, 1979), pp. 29–59. ”The Impact of Agrarian Reform: A Study of Costa Rica“ The Journal of Developing Areas 13 (January, 1979), pp. 161–174. Reprinted in Marc Edelman and Joanne Kenen, eds., The Costa Rica Reader, New York: Grove Weidenfeld, 1989. ”Public Policies in Conflict: Land Reform and Family Planning in Costa Rica“ Comparative Politics, 12 (October, 1979), pp. 49–62. Translated and reprinted: *”Las políticas públicas en conflicto: La reforma agraria y planificación familiar en Costa Rica“ Experiencias de reforma agraria y políticas estatales (working papers), (San José, Costa Rica: Centro de Estudios Democráticos de América Latina, CEDAL, 1978). ”Political and Interpersonal Trust Among Peasants: A Reevaluation“ with José Manuel Salazar X. Rural Sociology, 44 (Fall, 1979), pp. 505–524. ”Trust, Efficacy and Modes of Political Participation: A Study of Costa Rican Peasants“ British Journal of Political Science, 10 (January, 1980), pp. 75–98. ”A Problem-Solving Approach to Measuring Political Efficacy“ Social Science Quarterly, 60 (March, 1980), pp. 630–642. ”Threat, Ethnicity and Education: Tolerance toward the Civil Liberties of the Arab Minority in Israel*” (in Hebrew), with Dan Caspi, Megamot, 15 (May, 1982), pp. 37–53. ”Diffuse Political Support and Antisystem Political Behavior: A Comparative Analysis“ American Journal of Political Science, 26 (May, 1982), pp. 240–264. With Edward N. Muller and Thomas O. Jukam. ”Toward an Empirical Theory of Tolerance: Radical Groups in Israel and Costa Rica“ Comparative Political Studies, with Dan Caspi, 15 (January,1983), pp. 385–404. ”Arabs in Israel: Political Tolerance and Ethnic Conflict*” Journal of Applied Behavioral Science with Dan Caspi, 19:4, 1983, pp. 55–66. ”The Political Culture of Authoritarianism in Mexico: A Reexamination“ with John A. Booth, Latin American Research Review, 19 (No. l, January, 1984), pp. 106–124. Awarded the 1984 Hoover Institution Annual Prize for the Best Scholarly Article on Latin America. ”Tierra y trabajo en Guatemala: La ecuación desequilibrada“ co-authored with John Kelley, Anuario de estudios Centroamericanos, 12(2), 1986, pp. 5–34. ”Democratization in Latin America: The Current Cycle.” In James M. Malloy and Mitchell A. Seligson, eds., Authoritarians and Democrats: The Politics of Regime Transition in Latin America. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1987. ”Development, Democratization and Decay: Central America at the Crossroads.” In James M. Malloy and Mitchell A. Seligson, eds., Authoritarians and Democrats: The Politics of Regime Transition in Latin America. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1987. ”Inequality and Insurgency“ with Edward N. Muller, American Political Science Review, 81 (June, 1987), pp. 425–451. ”Costa Rica and Jamaica.” In Myron Weiner and Ergun Ozbudun, eds., Competitive Elections in Developing Countries. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 1987. ”Democratic Stability and Economic Crisis: Costa Rica, 1978-1983“ co-authored with Edward N. Muller, International Studies Quarterly, 31(September, 1987), pp. 301–326. Reprinted as, ”Estabilidad democrática y crisis económica: Costa Rica, 1978-1983“ Anuario de estudios Centroamericanos, Vol. 16 (2), 1990 and Vol. 17 (1), 1991, pp. 71–92. ”Elecciones ordinarias en tiempos extraordinarios: la economía política del voto en Costa Rica“ Co-authored with Miguel Gómez Barrantes, Anuario de estudios centro¬americanos, 13(1), 1987, pp. 5–24. Extract reprinted in Repetorio Politico, eds. Turcato di Tella and Patricia Chomnález, Editorial Emecé (Planeta) of Buenos Aires, 2007. ”Education, Participation, and Support for Democratic Norms“ with E. Muller and Ilter Turan, Comparative Politics, 20 (October, 1987), pp. 19–33. ”Central American Studies.” In Mark B. Rosenberg, ed., Central American Studies: Toward a New Research Agenda. Miami: Occasional Papers Series, Dialogues No. 110, Florida International University, July, 1988. ”Ordinary Elections in Extraordinary Times: The Political Economy of Voting in Costa Rica.” In John A. Booth and Mitchell A. Seligson, eds., Elections and Democracy in Central America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989. ”From Uncertainty to Uncertainty: The Institutionalization of Elections in Central America.” In John A. Booth and Mitchell A. Seligson, eds., Elections and Democracy in Central America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989. ”Land Inequality and Political Violence.” With Edward Muller and Hung-der Fu, American Political Science Review, 83 (June, 1989), pp. 577–587. ”Economic Crisis, Incumbent Performance and Regime Support: A Comparison of Longitudinal Data from West Germany and Costa Rica“ co-authored with Edward Muller and Steve Finkel, British Journal of Political Science, 19 (July, 1989), pp. 329–351.