David Easton

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Easton, David (1965). A Systems Analysis of Political Life, New York, S.32.

David Easton (born in Toronto, 1917) is a Canadian political scientist, renowned for his application of systems theory to political science. He is also well known for his definition of politics as "authoritative allocation of values". He is currently a Distinguished Research Professor at the Department of Political Science of the University of California, Irvine.

Easton graduated at the University of Toronto and received his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1947. In the same year, he began his career at the Department of Political Science at the University of Chicago.

[edit] Selected publications

Easton has written several books and articles. A selection:

1951, The Decline of Modern Political Theory, in Journal of Politics 13.
1953, The Political System. An Inquiry into the State of Political Science, New York.
1957, An Approach to the Analysis of Political Systems, in World Politics 9.
1965, A Framework for Political Analysis, Englewood Cliffs.
1965, A Systems Analysis of Political Life, New York.
1966, Varieties of Political Theory, (Ed.), Englewood Cliffs.
1969, Children in the Political System - Origins of Political Legitimacy, (with Jack Dennis), McGraw-Hill.
1990, The Analysis of Political Structure.
1991, Divided Knowledge: Across Disciplines, Across Cultures, (Ed. with C. Schelling).
1991, The Development of Political Science: A Comparative Survey, (Ed. with J. Gunnell, and L. Graziano).
1995, Regime and Discipline: Democracy and the Development of Political Science, (Ed. with J. Gunnell and M. Stein).