Professor David Brady

Deputy Director of the Hoover Institution, Stanford University


Professor David Brady was a guest of the US Studies Centre in February 2010. During his visit he discussed the Obama Presidency, US domestic policy and international affairs, the state of the Republican Party and prospects for the congressional mid-term elections. Brady also visited the US Studies Centre in November 2008. He was guest of honour at a US Business Leadership Forum luncheon speaking on "The USA under the New President". He was also a panellist at a public forum on "The President-Elect: What Can We Expect?"

Brady is Bowen H. and Janice Arthur McCoy Professor of Political Science and Leadership Values, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of the Hoover Institutio. He is Professor of Political Science, School of Humanities and Sciences and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.

Brady's research focuses on the American Congress, the party system, and public policy. He has also written on Internet voting, the women's movement, regulation of the nuclear industry, apportionment, the Supreme Court handling of abortion, and Korean and Japanese politics. He presently heads a joint project between the Brookings Institution and the Hoover Institution on Polarization in American Politics.

David Brady began his teaching career at Kansas State University in 1970, from there moving to the University of Houston and Rice University, where in 1981 he was named Autry Distinguished Professor of Social Science. In 1986 he joined Stanford University in the Graduate School of Business and its Department of Political Science. While at Stanford he has served as Associate Dean for Academic affairs in the GSB and as Vice Provost for Distance Learning at Stanford. He has twice been a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1987.

Professor Brady's teaching focuses on non-market strategy for corporations and ethical applications in building high quality companies. He has been awarded several teaching awards including the prestigious Dinkelspiel and Phi Beta Kappa distinguished teacher prizes.

His research focuses on the ties between elections, institutions (especially legislatures) and public policies. This work includes studies of American political history and comparative studies of Britain, Ireland, Korea and Japan. His most recent project is as co-director of the Hoover Brookings joint project on political polarization in America.