Sidney Milkis

Degrees

Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania

Biography

Sidney M. Milkis is the White Burkett Miller Professor in the Department of Politics and Director of the Program on Constitutionalism and Democracy. He was awarded the Cavaliers’ Distinguished Teaching Professorship for 2018-2020, the highest teaching award at the University of Virginia, which recognizes an eminent scholar for outstanding undergraduate teaching.  In 2016-2017, he was named the John G. Winant Visiting Professor of American Government at Oxford University. He has a B.A. from Muhlenberg College and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania. 

His many books include: 

** The President and the Parties: The Transformation of the American Party System Since the New Deal (1993), winner of the APSA Section on Presidents and Executive Politics 2026 Legacy Award, which is given to a living author for a book, essay, or article, published at least 10 years prior to the award year that has made a continuing contribution to the intellectual development of the fields of presidency and executive politics. 

** The American Presidency: Origins and Development, 1776-2021 (2026), 10th edition, coauthored with Michael Nelson, winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award for History, Politics, and Philosophy

** Rivalry and Reform: Presidents, Social Movements and the Transformation of American Politics (2019), winner of a Choice Outstanding Title Award

** Subverting Democracy: Donald J. Trump and the Perils of Presidentialism (2025), winner of a Choice Outstanding Title Award.

He is the co-editor, with Jerome Mileur, of three volumes on twentieth century political reform: Progressivism and the New Democracy (1999); The New Deal and the Triumph of Liberalism (2002); and The Great Society and the High Tide of Liberalism (2005). 

His articles on American government and political history have appeared in Perspectives on Politics, Political Science Quarterly, Studies in American Political Development, PS: Political Science and Politics, the Journal of Policy History, Antitrust Law Journal, Presidential Studies Quarterly, Journal of Supreme Court History, American Political Thought, Social Science Quarterly, and several highly regarded edited volumes.

Milkis is co-founder and faculty lead of the Karsh Institute of Democracy’s Democracy and Capitalism Lab, which explores the complex relationship between self-government and markets.  In March 2023, the Project convened a conference, funded by the Hewlett Foundation, titled “Can Democracy and Capitalism be Reconciled?” Through an examination of ideas, history, and policy, this conference explored the philosophical dimensions of the relationship between a free-enterprise system and democracy, probed the historical roots of the relationship, and considered policy proposals to buttress and reimagine democratic capitalism itself. A volume drawn from this conference was published by Oxford University Press in 2025.