Amartya Sen awarded the 2017 JohanSkytte Prize in Political Science

The Johan SkyttePrize, awarded by Uppsala University inSweden, is often considered anequivalent in Political Science of the Nobel Prizes.

Professor Sen will attend the traditional PrizeAward Ceremony in Uppsala on September 30, 2017.

PRESS RELEASE: AMARTYA SEN IS AWARDED THE 2017 JOHAN SKYTTE PRIZEIN POLITICAL SCIENCE

2017-04-20 PRESS RELEASE

AmartyaSen, Thomas W. Lamont Professor at Harvard University, wins the23rd Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science. Sen is awarded theJohan Skytte Prize for his multifaceted achievement that

“combines insights into human vulnerability with knowledge aboutthe potential of democratic political power to redress and relievethis deprivation.”

Sen, whooriginates from West Bengal, has spent most of his professionalcareer at Universities of Cambridge and Harvard, all whileretaining an affiliation with Delhi University in his native India.In 1998, he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in EconomicSciences and he has used the award to start the Pratichi Trust inIndia and Bangladesh that works to improve women’s access toeducation and health care.
Sen is aneconomist by training but his conviction that democraticinstitutions play a fundamental role in making a difference inpeople’s lives makes him a worthy recipient of this highly esteemedPrize in Political Science. His notable scholarly worksinclude Povertyand Famines (1981) where he explores thelink between famine and lack of democracy and highlights thecrucial role democracy plays in alievating extreme poverty.In Developmentas Freedom (1999), he argues that political, social andeconomic freedoms are both the means and the ends of development.He sees development not only in one’s material wellbeing but alsoone’s ability to make free choices and act independently on them.In his 2009 book, TheIdea of Justice, Sen addresses questions of how justice maybe increased or how injustices may be removed, rather than offeringresolutions of questions about the nature of perfect justice. Sen’scontribution spans the fields of political economy, social choicetheory, public health, political philosophy, as well as thesub-discipline of developmentstudies.

The 2017Prize, that consists of a monetary award of 500.000 Swedish crownsand a medal, will be awarded at a traditional ceremony which willtake place in Uppsala on September 30, 2017. More information willfollow shortly.

In 1622, Johan Skytte, thenVice-Chancellor of the University, established the Johan Skyttechair in Eloquence and Government, which is probably the world’soldest active professorship in political science. The landsincluded in the original donation continue to finance research andthe Johan Skytte Prize. The prize sum of SEK 500,000 is awardedeach year by The Skytte Foundation at Uppsala University to theperson who has made the “most valuable contribution to politicalscience”.

AmartyaSen is Thomas W. Lamont University Professor,and Professor of Economics and Philosophy, at Harvard Universityand was until 2004 the Master of Trinity College,Cambridge. He is also Senior Fellow at theHarvard Society of Fellows. Earlier on he wasProfessor of Economics at Jadavpur University Calcutta, the DelhiSchool of Economics, and the London School of Economics, andDrummond Professor of Political Economy at Oxford University. He isthe winner in 1998 of the Nobel Memorial Prize inEconomic Sciences.

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