Robert C. Tucker/Stephen F. Cohen Dissertation Prize
The Robert C. Tucker/Stephen F. Cohen Dissertation Prize, sponsored by the JKW Foundation, is awarded annually (if there is a distinguished submission) for an outstanding English-language doctoral dissertation in Soviet or Post-Soviet politics and history in the tradition of historical political science and political history of Russia or the Soviet Union as practiced by Robert C. Tucker and Stephen F. Cohen, defended at an American or Canadian university.
The prize carries a $5,000 award intended to help the author turn the dissertation into a publishable manuscript.
The dissertation must be completed and defended during the calendar year prior to the award. The prize is awarded at the ASEEES Annual Convention in November.
Deadline Extended to May 15, 2013
2012 Winner
Jeffrey S. Hardy, “Khrushchev’s Gulag: The Evolution of Punishment in the Post- Stalin Soviet Union, 1953-1964,” Princeton University.
2013 Robert C. Tucker/Stephen F. Cohen Dissertation Prize Committee
The winner of the Tucker/Cohen Dissertation Prize will be chosen by the following scholars:
- Tom Remington, Emory University; Committee Chair, 2012-2014
(mailing address):
Thomas F. Remington
Department of Political Science
327 Tarbutton Hall
1555 Dickey Drive
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322 - Ziva Galili, Rutgers University; 2012-2013
(mailing address):
Ziva Galili
Rutgers University
Department of History
Van Dyck Hall, 16 Seminary Place
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
From mid-May to end of August: contact via e-mail galili@rci.rutgers.edu - Anna Grzymala-Busse, University of Michigan; 2013-2015
(mailing address):
Anna Grzymala-Busse
University of Michigan
Dept of Political Science
505 S. State Stree, Room 5700
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-8301
Rules of eligibility
Rules of eligibility for the ASEEES Robert C. Tucker/Stephen F. Cohen Dissertation Prize are as follows:
The dissertation must be defended at a university in the United States or Canada by a US citizen, Canadian citizen or permanent resident of the United States.
The dissertation must be completed and defended during the calendar year prior to the award (for example, the dissertation must have been defended in 2011 to be eligible for the 2012 competition).
The dissertation's primary subject and analytical purpose must be in the realm of the history of domestic politics, as broadly understood in academic or public life, though it may also include social, cultural, economic, international or other dimensions. The dissertation must focus primarily on Russia (though the topic may also involve other former Soviet republics) during one or more periods between January 1918 and the present.
A nomination will consist of a detailed letter from the dissertation's main faculty supervisor explaining the ways in which the work is outstanding in both its empirical and interpretive contributions, along with an abstract of 700-1000 words, written by the candidate, specifying the sources and general findings of the research. A faculty supervisor may nominate no more than one dissertation a year. By May 15 faculty supervisors should send each committee member listed above their letter and the 700-1000-word abstract. (Candidates may also initiate the nomination, but it must come from their advisers.) The committee will read this material and then request copies of the dissertations that best meet the criteria, as defined in the statement above.