Born in 1948, Pierre Rosanvallon has held the chair of Early Modern and Modern Political History at the Collège de France since 2001. He is also professor and chair of the Raymond Aron Center for Political Research (a team affiliated with the CNRS) at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales as well as the President of
the international intellectual workshop entitled La République des idées.
His work on political history and philosophy has focused on three domains:
The intellectual history of democracy in the long durée starting with the history of universal suffrage in France in Le Sacre du citoyen. Histoire du suffrage universel en France, 1992; the history of representation in French democracy in Le Peuple introuvable. Histoire de la représentation démocratique en France, 1998; and most recently the history of popular sovereignty in La Démocratie inachevée. Histoire de la souveraineté du peuple en France, 2000.
The history of the French political model and the relationship between the state and society in Le Capitalisme Utopique. Histoire de l'idée de Marché, 1979; Le Moment Guizot, 1985; L'Etat en France de 1789 à nos jours, 1990; La Monarchie Impossible. Histoire des chartes de 1814 et 1830, 1994; Le Modèle politique français. La société civile contre le jacobinisme de 1789 à nos jours, 2004.
Lastly, he has explored questions of social justice in the contemporary world in La Crise de l'état providence, 1981; La nouvelle question sociale. Repenser l'État-providence, 1995; and Le nouvel âge des inégalités, (in collaboration with J.P. Fitoussi), 1996.
He is presently working on transformations in contemporary democracy from a comparative perspective with non-western areas.
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