Sven Steinmo is Research Professor at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS), the European University Institute . He has published in a wide range of fields including political economy, comparative politics, American political development, economics, psychology, public policy, and evolutionary theory. His first book was awarded the Riker Prize for the Best Book in Political Economy by the APSA. His most recent book, The Evolution of the Modern State, was awarded the Gunnar Myrdal Prize for best book in Evolutionary Political Economy by the European Association for Evolutionary Economics.