Josiah Ober

Josiah Ober, Mitsotakis Professor in the School of Humanities and Science, Stanford University, works on historical institutionalism and political theory, focusing on democratic theory and the contemporary relevance of the political thought and practice of the ancient Greek world. He is the author of Demopolis: Democracy before Liberalism (2017), The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece (2015), and other books, mostly published by Princeton University Press, including Mass and Elite in Democratic Athens (1989), Political Dissent in Democratic Athens (2008), and Democracy and Knowledge (2008). He has also published about 100 articles and chapters, including recent articles in American Political Science Review, Philosophical Studies, Polis, Public Choice, Critical Review, and Transactions of the American Philological Association. Work in progress includes books on instrumental rationality in classical Greek thought and the role of civic bargains in the emergence and persistence of democratic government.