David Runciman

David Walter Runciman, 4th Viscount Runciman of Doxford (born 1 March 1967), is an English academic and podcaster who until 2024 taught politics and history at the University of Cambridge, where he was Professor of Politics. From October 2014 to October 2018 he was also head of the Department of Politics and International Studies. In April 2024 he decided to resign his position at the university to focus on his podcast full-time. He was subsequently made Honorary Professor of Politics.

Family and early life

Runciman was born in St John's Wood, North London, England, and grew up there. His father, Garry Runciman, 3rd Viscount Runciman, was a political sociologist and academic and his mother, Ruth Runciman, is former chair of the UK Mental Health Commission, a founder of the Prison Reform Trust and former chair of the National Aids Trust. He was educated at Eton College, an all-boys public school in Berkshire, where he won the Newcastle Scholarship. He went on to study at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Career

Academic

In October 2014, he was appointed head of the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge. Runciman gave his inaugural lecture on 24 February 2015 on Political Theory and Real Politics in the Age of the Internet. He was preceded in this position by Andrew Gamble and Geoffrey Hawthorn.

In 2020, Runciman co-founded the Cambridge Centre for the Future of Democracy, a research institute dedicated to the exploration of innovative approaches to the study of democratic governance worldwide. At its launch the Centre released its first report, gaining widespread media coverage, and has since released a further three annual reports as well as peer-reviewed articles in academic journals.

In 2018, Runciman was elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA). In 2021, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL).

Writing

Runciman began writing for the ''London Review of Books'' in 1996 and has written dozens of book reviews and articles on contemporary politics since, for the ''LRB'' and other publications.

Runciman has published eight books. An adaptation of his PhD thesis was published in 1997 as ''Pluralism and the Personality of the State''. ''The Politics of Good Intentions: History, Fear and Hypocrisy in the New World Order'' (2006) evaluates contemporary and historical crisis in international politics after 9/11 while ''Political Hypocrisy'' (2008) explores the political uses of hypocrisy from a historical perspective. ''The Confidence Trap: A History of Democracy in Crisis from World War I to the Present'' (2013) lays out his theory of the threat of democratic overconfidence. Profile Books published his books ''Politics: Ideas in Profile'' and ''How Democracy Ends'' in 2014 and 2018, respectively. In 2021 he published ''Confronting Leviathan: A History of Ideas'', looking at thinkers and ideas in modern politics.

Runciman's book ''Politics: Ideas in Profile'' explores what politics is, why do we need it and where is it heading.

After a negative book review in ''The Guardian'' of ''Antifragility'' by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Taleb referred to Runciman as the "second most stupid reviewer" of his works, arguing that Runciman had missed the concept of convexity, the theme of his book. "There are 607 references to convexity", Taleb wrote.

Published by Profile Books in 2018, ''How Democracy Ends'' looks at the political landscape of the West and whether democracy is at risk. Andrew Rawnsley in ''The Guardian'' wrote that the book left him "feeling more positive than I thought I would be"

Podcasting

From 2016 to 2022, Runciman hosted a podcast called ''Talking Politics'' with professor Helen Thompson. The podcast convened a panel of academics from the University of Cambridge and elsewhere to speak about current affairs and politics. It ended in March 2022 after over 300 episodes and 26 million downloads. Tim Abrams, writing in ''The Guardian'', called it "terrific". Oliver Eagleton, writing in the ''New Statesman'', said of it "There uncimanreflected on current affairs in his reassuring Eton baritone: parsing the headlines, never taking too strident a position, throwing softball questions to his guests ... and recycling conventional north London wisdom".

On 27 April 2023, Runciman launched "Past Present Future: The History of Ideas Podcast".

Personal life

Runciman is the great-nephew of the historian Sir Steven Runciman. He inherited his family's viscountcy on the death of his father in 2020. From 1997 to 2021 he was married to the food writer Bee Wilson with whom he has three children. Since 2021 he has been married to psychotherapist Helen Runciman (née Lyon-Dalberg-Acton), daughter of academic Edward Acton.(2023, December 01). Runciman of Doxford, 4th Viscount, (David Walter Runciman) (born 1 March 1967). WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. Retrieved 28 Feb. 2025, from https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-278209.

Arms

Selected works

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

References

External links

University of Cambridge profile page
*

Past Present Future podcast hosted by Runciman
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Runciman, David
1967 births
Living people
People from St John's Wood
Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
English people of Scottish descent
British Jews
People educated at Eton College
Fellows of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
English political scientists
English political writers
English male journalists
The Guardian journalists
Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
David Runciman
Fellows of the British Academy
English podcasters
Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature