Juan Linz Is Honored with Amalfi Prize for His Contributions to Sociology

Juan J. Linz, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Social Sciences, has been awarded the prestigious 2010 European Amalfi Prize for Sociology and Social Sciences.

The prize, established in 1987 at the initiative of the Italian Association of Sociology, is awarded annually at an international conference in Amalfi to the author of a book or an article which was published within the previous two years and has made an important contribution to sociology. Linz was selected by a jury to receive the honor.

Linz is best known for his theories on totalitarian and authoritarian systems of government. He is interested in the comparative study of regimes, particularly authoritarian regimes, and transitions to democracy in southern Europe and Latin America, as well as the comparative study of parties, elections, elites and public opinion in Europe; religion, intellectuals and politics. He has also done extensive research on the breakdown of democracy and the transition back to a democratic regime. His publications include “Crisis, Breakdown and Reequilibration,” “The Breakdown of Democratic Regimes: Southern Europe, South America and Post-Communist Europe” (with Alfred Stepan), “Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes” in “Handbook of Political Science,” “Sultanistic Regimes” (with H.E. Chahabi), and essays on Spanish politics and society in various collective volumes.

Linz is the former chair of the Committee on Political Sociology of the International Sociological Association and the International Political Science Association.

Among earlier recipients of the Amalfi Prize are Norbert Elias, M. Rainer Lepsius and Wolfgang J. Mommsen, Charles Tilly, Raymond Boudon, François Furet, Niklas Luhmann, Alain Touraine and Richard Sennett.