Professor of Political Science and Law

Sidney Smith Hall
Room 3125
100 St. George Street
Toronto, Ontario

Tel.: 416-978-5304
Email: ran.hirschl@utoronto.ca

Ran Hirschl (PhD, Yale) is Professor of Political Science and Law, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. His research interests focus on comparative public law, and in particular the intersection of comparative politics and comparative constitutionalism. He is the author of four books: City, State: Constitutionalism and the Megacity (Oxford University Press, 2020)—winner of the 2021 Stein Rokkan Prize in Comparative Social Science Research; Comparative Matters: The Renaissance of Comparative Constitutional Law (Oxford University Press, 2014 & 2016)—winner of the 2015 APSA C. Herman Pritchett Award for the best book on law & courts; Constitutional Theocracy (Harvard University Press, 2010)—winner of the 2011 Mahoney Prize in Legal Theory; and Towards Juristocracy: The Origins and Consequences of the New Constitutionalism (Harvard University Press, 2004 & 2007)—winner of the 2021 APSA Law & Courts Section Lasting Contribution Award, as well as over one hundred articles and book chapters on comparative constitutionalism and judicial review, public law, the judicialization of politics, constitutional law and religion, and the intellectual history of comparative constitutional inquiry published in scholarly venues such as Comparative Politics, Law & Social Inquiry, Political Theory, Human Rights Quarterly, Constellations, Annual Review of Political Science, the Oxford Handbook of Law & Politics, the Journal of Political Philosophy, Annual Review of Law & Social Science, Revue Francaise de Science Politique, International Journal of Constitutional Law, Harvard International Law Review, Texas Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, and the American Journal of Comparative Law. 

Professor Hirschl has been a Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Maimonides Fellow at the Institute for the Advanced Study of Law and Justice (NYU), a Fulbright Fellow at Yale, and a Fellow at Princeton University’s Program in Law and Public Affairs. He served as distinguished visiting professor of law at the National University of Singapore (NUS), Harvard Law School and NYU Law School. From 2006 to 2016 he held the Tier I Canada Research Chair in Constitutionalism, Democracy and Development. In 2010, he received a University of Toronto award for outstanding teaching, and delivered the Annual Lecture in Law and Society at Oxford University. In 2012, he was awarded a Killam Research Fellowship—one of Canada’s most prestigious research awards—by the Canada Council for the Arts, and delivered the Annual Julius Stone Address at the University of Sydney. From 2015 to 2018, he served as co-president of the International Society of Public Law, and has been an editorial board member of several leading journals, as well as the co-editor of a book series on comparative constitutional law and policy published by Cambridge University Press. In 2016, he was awarded a prestigious five-year Alexander von Humboldt International Research Award, to be hosted by the University of Göttingen. In 2018, he was granted a three-year Max Planck Fellow award in comparative constitutionalism. His work on the intersection of public law and comparative politics has been translated into various languages, discussed in numerous scholarly fora, cited in high court decisions (most recently by the Supreme Court of Canada in November 2020), and addressed in media venues from the New York Times to the Jerusalem Post. 

See also Professor Hirschl's SSRN page.
Education
Ph.D. (With Distinction) - Yale University (1999)
M.Phil (High Honors) - Yale University (1996)
M.A. (Summa Cum Laude) - Tel-Aviv University (1993)
LL.B. - Tel-Aviv University (1992)
B.A. (Magna Cum Laude) - Tel-Aviv University (1989)
Academic appointments
* Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Comparative Constitutionalism (2016-2021)
* Max Planck Fellow in Comparative Constitutionalism (2018-2021)
* Kwa Geok Choo Dinstinguished Visitor, National University of Singapore (2019)
* Canada Research Chair (Tier I) (2006-2016)
* Professor of Political Science & Law (2006-present)
* Maimonides Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study of Law & Justice, NYU (2011-2012)
* Global Visiting Faculty, NYU School of Law (2010-present)
* Jeremiah Smith Jr. Visiting Professor of Law, Harvard Law School (2007-2008)
* Fellow, Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford (2006-2007)
* Associate Chair & Director of Undergraduate Studies, Political Science (2004-2006)
* Associate Professor of Political Science & Law (2003-2006)
* Fellow, Program in Law & Public Affairs, Princeton University (2002-2003)
* Assistant Professor of Political Science (1999-2003)
Awards and distinctions
* Stein Rokkan Prize for comparative social science research (2021)
* Max Planck Fellow in Comparative Constitutionalism (2018)
* Alexander von Humboldt International Research Award (2016)
* C. Herman Pritchett Award for Best Book on Law & Courts (2015)
* Fellow, Royal Society of Canada (2014-present)
* Killam Research Fellowship, Canada Council for the Arts (2012-2014)
* Canada Research Chair (Tier I) (2006-2016)
* Julius Stone Address, University of Sydney (2012)
* Mahoney Prize in Legal Theory (2011)
* Outstanding Teaching Award, University of Toronto (2010)
* Annual Lecture in Law & Society, Oxford University (2010)
* SSHRC Standard Research Grant (ranked 1st in country) 2002-2006
* Connaught Fellowship (2002)
Other service
* Co-President, International Society of Public Law (2015-2018)
* Member, Canada Research Chairs College of Reviewers
* Co-Editor, Comparative Constitutional Law & Policy, Book Series, Cambridge University Press
* Editorial Board Member, I-CON International Journal of Constitutional Law
* Editorial Board Member, Journal of Law & Courts
* Editorial Board Member, Journal of Church and State
* Editorial Board, Journal of Constitutional Studies
* Executive Board Member, Toronto Initiative for Economic and Social Rights
* Section Convener, International Association of Constitutional Law World Congress 2010
Other info

Keynote addresses, invited talks and research presentations

American Association of Law Schools (2014 plenary panel); American Association of Comparative Law (2012 plenary panel; 2020); American Political Science Association Annual Meeting (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 plenary panel, 2007, 2009, 2011 plenary panel, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019 plenary panel, 2021, 2022 plenary panel); Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights, Toronto (2020); Association of Israel Studies Annual Meeting (1998; 2010 Law & Constitution Section Chair); Association for the Study of Nationalities (2019); Baylor University (Miller Annual Lecture 2012); Boston College (Clough Center for Constitutional Democracy, Keynote Address 2014; 2016); Boston University (School of Law 2008, 2013, 2015 Book Symposium); Canadian Political Science Association Annual Meeting (2005, 2010 plenary panel, 2021 plenary panel); College of Law & Business, Israel (2014, 2015); Central European University (2021); Columbia University (School of Law 2013); European University Institute, Florence (keynote address, 2011; 2014); Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2013); Fordham University (School of Law 2006); Georgetown University (2010; 2017); George Washington University (2010, 2011, 2012, 2014); Harvard University (Harvard Law School 2008; Islamic Legal Studies Program 2008); Hertie School of Governance, Berlin (2014); Humboldt University, Berlin (keynote address, 2016); ICON-S Brazil (2020); IDEA International, The Hague (keynote address, 2018); Indiana University, Bloomington (School of Law 2003, 2011, 2012); Institute for Advanced Study (Wissenschaftskolleg), Berlin (2010); International Political Science Association World Congress (2000, 2006); International Political Science Association (Hannover, Germany, 2017); International Association of Constitutional Law World Congress (2010 workshop convener); International Society of Public Law Annual Meeting (2014 plenary panel; 2015 plenary panel; 2016; 2017 plenary panel; 2018, 2019, 2021); Johns Hopkins University (Department of Political Science, 2005); Law & Society Association Annual Meeting (2002, 2004, 2010, 2013 plenary panel, 2018); Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen, Germany (2012, 2016, 2017, 2018); Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg, Germany (2013); Midwest Political Science Association Annual Meeting (2004, 2007, 2011, 2012); National University of Singapore (Kwa Geok Choo Dinstinguished Visitor 2019, CALS 2020); New England Political Science Association Annual Meeting (2005); New School for Social Research, New York (2011); New York University (School of Law 2004, 2011, 2013; Institute for Advanced Study of Law & Justice 2011, 2012, 2013); Northwestern University (Faculty of Law 2016); Oxford University (2010 Annual Lecture in Law & Society); Princeton University (Center for Human Values 2008; Program in Law and Public Affairs 2003); Stanford University (Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences 2006; Law School 2007); Suffolk University (Law School, 2008); Turkish Bar Association, Ankara (2004); Universidad del Desarrollo, Santiago de Chile (2019); Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM, Mexico City (2010); Université Paris 1, Panthéon Sorbonne, France (2013); University of British Columbia (2006, 2021); University of California, Berkeley (Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program 2008, 2009); University of Chicago (Law School 2010, 2013; 2017); University of Copenhagen (2020); University of Göttingen (2017; 2019); University of Hamburg, Germany (2018); University of Hong Kong (2011, 2017, 2020); University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (College of Law 2003); University of London (King's College, Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, 2009); University of Maryland (Department of Government 2000, 2002; School of Law at 2006, 2009; 2016, 2021); University of Melbourne (2019; 2020 IACL book panel); University of Milan (2016, 2018, 2019); University of Munich [LMU] (2017); University of New South Wales (distinguished visitor, 2017, 2021); University of Ottawa (keynote address, 2015); University of Southern California (distinguished visitor, Gould School of Law 2008); University of Sydney (Annual Julius Stone Address, 2012); University of Texas at Austin (Department of Government 2007, 2012, 2014; School of Law 2004, 2009, 2015, 2019, 2020); University of Turku, Finland (keynote address, 2009); University of Utrecht, the Netherlands (2018); University of Virginia (2013); University of Western Ontario (2010, 2014); University of Washington (Comparative Law & Society Studies Center 2012); Volkswagen Foundation, Hannover, Germany (2015); William and Mary (School of Law 2006, 2007); Yale University (Center for Area and International Studies 2006; Yale Law School 2012; 2016, 2022); Yeshiva University (Cardozo Law School 2009, 2012); York University (2008, 2010, 2011, 2013).

Selected publications

Ran Hirschl, City, State: Constitutionalism and the Megacity (Oxford University Press, 2020)

Ran Hirschl, Comparative Matters: The Renaissance of Comparative Constitutional Law (Oxford University Press, 2014 & 2016) 

Ran Hirschl, "From Comparative Constitutional Law to Comparative Constitutional Studies," I-CON International Journal of Constitutional Law 11 (2013): 1-12 

Ran Hirschl, Constitutional Theocracy (Harvard University Press, 2010)

Ran Hirschl, Towards Juristocracy (Harvard University Press, 2004 & 2007)

Ran Hirschl and Ayelet Shachar, "The New Wall of Separation: Permitting Diversity, Restricting Competition," Cardozo Law Review 30 (2009): 2535-2560 

Ran Hirschl, "The Judicialization of Mega-Politics and the Rise of Political Courts," Annual Review of Political Science 11 (2008): 93-118

Ran Hirschl, “The Question of Case Selection in Comparative Constitutional Law,” American Journal of Comparative Law 53 (2005): 125-155

Research areas
Canadian Constitutional Law
Comparative Law
Judicial Decision-Making
Law and Globalization
Law and International Development
Law and Religion

Publications

All Publications
See also Professor Hirschl's SSRN page.

News