Alexis de Tocqueville Award

Beginning in 2022, this award is given annually for the best paper concerned with democracy and public opinion, whether in a consolidated or in an emerging democracy. De Tocqueville is best known for his book On Democracy in America, in which he expressed concern that democracy could become a dictatorship of public opinion and questioned the place of elites and experts within a governmental system where everyone is assumed to be equal. The de Tocqueville Award comes with a $500 prize.

Submission: For the de Tocqueville Award, the author(s) will have had their abstract accepted for presentation to the WAPOR 77th Annual Conference. Authors will then submit their completed papers electronically (send to waporoffice@gmail.com) by the deadline of May 31, 2024  (by 11:59 pm ET). Entries are expected to be approximately 15 to 25 pages in length, font Times New Roman 12, double-spaced. References citation format: APA.  Lengthy tables or other statistical calculations (over 1 page length) should be included in an appendix. The appendix is not counted towards the overall paper length. The paper may have multiple authors.

A panel of researchers from WAPOR’s membership–drawn from the academic, government, and commercial sectors–will evaluate the submissions. Competitors will be notified of a decision prior to the start of the annual conference. The committees reserve the right not to give an award.


Past Award Winners

2022 – Andrew Dawson and Isabel Krakoff, Canada
2023 – Bernardo Mackenna (USA), Ricardo Gonzalez (Chile), Adolfo Fuentes (UK), and Esteban Munoz (Italy).


Award Committee Members

2022: Marita Carballo (Argentina, Chair), Claire Durand (Canada), and Timothy Johnson (USA).

2023: Marita Carballo (Argentina, Chair), Claire Durand (Canada), Timothy Johnson (USA), Alejandro Moreno (Mexico), Robert Chung (Hong Kong), and Kathy Frankovic (USA)

2024: Marita Carballo (Argentina, Chair), Claire Durand (Canada), Timothy Johnson (USA), Alejandro Moreno (Mexico), Robert Chung (Hong Kong), Kathy Frankovic (USA), and David Jodice (USA).