Robert Axelrod (political scientist)

This article is about the political scientist. For the actor, see Robert Axelrod (actor).

Robert Axelrod
Born	(1943-05-27) May 27, 1943 Chicago, Illinois
Alma mater	Yale University University of Chicago
Employers	University of California University of Michigan

Robert Marshall Axelrod (born May 27, 1943) is an American political scientist. He is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Michigan where he has been since 1974. He is best known for his interdisciplinary work the evolution of cooperation, which has been cited in numerous articles. His current research interests include complexity theory (especially agent-based modeling), international security, and cyber security. Axelrod is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Axelrod is also a Senior Fellow at ARTIS International.

Biography

Axelrod received his B.A. in mathematics from the University of Chicago in 1964. In 1969, he received his Ph.D. in political science from Yale University for a thesis entitled Conflict of interest: a theory of divergent goals with applications to politics. He taught at the University of California, Berkeley, from 1968 until 1974.

Among his honors and awards are membership in the National Academy of Sciences, a five-year MacArthur Prize Fellowship, the Newcomb Cleveland Prize of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences for an outstanding contribution to science. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1985. In 1990 Axelrod was awarded the inaugural NAS Award for Behavioral Research Relevant to the Prevention of Nuclear War from the National Academy of Sciences.

Recently Axelrod has consulted and lectured on promoting cooperation and harnessing complexity for the United Nations, the World Bank, the U.S. Department of Defense, and various organizations serving health care professionals, business leaders, and K–12 educators.

Axelrod was the President of the American Political Science Association (APSA) for the 2006–2007 term. He focused his term on the theme of interdisciplinarity.

In May 2006, Axelrod was awarded an honorary degree by Georgetown University. In 2013, he was awarded the Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science. In 2014, President Barack Obama presented Axelrod with a National Medal of Science. On May 28, 2015, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Harvard University.

Bibliography

Books

• Axelrod, Robert (1970). Conflict of interest: a theory of divergent goals with applications to politics. Markham Pub. Co. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
• Axelrod, Robert (1976), Structure of Decision: The Cognitive Map of Political Elites, Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-10050-0
• Axelrod, Robert (1984), The Evolution of Cooperation, Basic Books, ISBN 978-0-465-02122-2
• Axelrod, Robert (1997), The Complexity of Cooperation: Agent-Based Models of Competition and Collaboration, Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0-691-01567-5
• Axelrod, Robert (2006), The Evolution of Cooperation (Revised ed.), Perseus Books Group, ISBN 978-0-465-00564-2
• Axelrod, Robert; Cohen, Michael D. (2001-08-02). Harnessing Complexity. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-00550-5. Retrieved 28 April 2012.

Journal articles

• Axelrod, Robert; Hamilton, William D. (27 March 1981). "The evolution of cooperation". Science. 211 (4489): 1390–1396. doi:10.1126/science.7466396. PMID 7466396. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Axelrod, Robert (April 1997). "The dissemination of culture: a model with local convergence and global polarization". Journal of Conflict Resolution. 41 (2): 203–226. doi:10.1177/0022002797041002001. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Axelrod, Robert; Atran, S, Davis, R (2007) Sacred Barriers to Conflict Resolution, Science (317)

See also

• The Evolution of Cooperation
• Prisoner's dilemma
• Evolutionarily stable strategy
• Cognitive map