About

Bruce Ackerman is Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University. He is the author of nineteen books in political philosophy, constitutional law, and public policy, and has made significant contributions to the understanding of American constitutional history, social justice, and comparative constitutional law. Ackerman's notable works include the three-volume series 'We the People,' which explores pivotal moments in American constitutional development, and 'Social Justice in the Liberal State,' which has provoked ongoing debate. His scholarship has had a global impact, earning him recognition such as the Henry Phillips Prize from the American Philosophical Society, membership in the American Law Institute and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Trieste, Italy. Ackerman's recent work, including 'Revolutionary Constitutions' (2019) and 'The Postmodern Predicament' (2024), addresses contemporary issues such as worldwide constitutional crises and the transformative effects of the internet on democracy. His research focuses on constitutional law, political philosophy, and public policy, with an emphasis on understanding and reforming democratic institutions and constitutional frameworks.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Art
• Engineering
• Law
• Aesthetics
• Literature

Selected publications

• The New Paradigm Revisited

  2025-10-02

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Let's begin with the very idea of a "new paradigm": are there distinctive ideas organizing our particular proposals, and if so, what are they? Our commentators profess varying degrees of skepticism, and we hope to allay their doubts with a two-part answer. The first emphasizes principle; the second is more pragmatic. We begin with a framework that isolates our basic normative concerns; we continue with an instrumental assessment of the "secret donation booth" as a policy tool; we conclude by asking whether these principled and pragmatic perspectives provide the basis for a "new paradigm"-a distinctive and coherent approach to the problem of campaign finance.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Roberts Court’s Unprecedented Abuse of Precedent – And How It Is Destroying the Judiciary’s Role in the System of Checks-and-Balances

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Chapter 4 DEMOCRACY V. PLUTOCRACY

  Yale University Press eBooks · 2024-05-30

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Chapter 7 POSTMODERN LIFE CYCLES

  Yale University Press eBooks · 2024-05-30

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Postmodern Predicament

  Yale University Press eBooks · 2024-05-21 · 1 citations

  book1st authorCorresponding

  One of our most influential political theorists offers a boundary-breaking—and liberating—perspective on the meaning of life in the internet age Human beings have taken one thing for granted since our earliest days: we are bodily creatures dealing with one another on a face-to-face basis. The internet has shattered this fundamental feature of human existence. We are suddenly living our lives in two worlds at once—shifting endlessly from virtual to physical reality as we reach out to others. Worse yet, we are developing different personal identities in our two worlds. We say and do things in virtual reality that flatly contradict our face-to-face commitments to family, friends, and fellow-workers—and vice versa. The Postmodern Predicament explores these dilemmas at each phase of the life cycle, beginning at the moment a young child picks up a cell phone. The existentialist tradition of the twentieth century provides a precious perspective on our postmodern dilemmas. Thinkers and doers like Simone de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre considered the fragmentation of modern life as a central source of contemporary anxieties. Like them, Ackerman views the challenges of the internet age as a political, no less than personal, problem—and proposes concrete reforms that that could mobilize broad-based support for democracy against demagogic assaults on its very foundations.

  PublisherDOI

• APPENDIX Funding the Stakeholder Society

  Yale University Press eBooks · 2024-05-30

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• The Postmodern Predicament

  2024 · 11 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Sociology
  • Aesthetics
  PublisherDOI

• Chapter 3 CITIZEN V. CONSUMER

  Yale University Press eBooks · 2024-05-30

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• INDEX

  Yale University Press eBooks · 2024-05-30

  paratext1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Chapter 5 MEANINGFUL WORK

  Yale University Press eBooks · 2024-05-30 · 1 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Flávia Piovesan

  83 shared

• Christoph Bezemek

  81 shared

• México City

  University of Pittsburgh

  81 shared

• Harald Eberhard

  Schott (Germany)

  81 shared

• Kirsten Saunders

  Advisory Board Company (United States)

  81 shared

• Helen Workman

  Rogers (United States)

  81 shared

• Eva Schulev-Steindl

  81 shared

• Georg Lienbacher

  Advisory Board Company (United States)

  81 shared

Awards & honors

• Henry Phillips Prize for lifetime achievement in Jurispruden…
• Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Member of the American Law Institute
• Commander of the French Order of Merit
• Honorary Doctorate from the University of Trieste, Italy