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David Runciman

David Runciman is professor of politics at Cambridge University and the author of several books, including The Politics of Good Intentions (2006), Political Hypocrisy (2008) and The Confidence Trap (2013)

April 2025

  • Illustration: Klawe Rzeczy/The Guardian

    The Audio Long Read
    From the archive: Votes for children! Why we should lower the voting age to six – podcast

    This week, from 2021: The generational divide is deforming democracy. But there is a solution

    By David Runciman. Read by Andrew McGregor
    Podcast33:49

September 2024

  • Illustration of Donald Trump's face inside a silhouette of Adolf Hitler with his arm raised in a Nazi salute, against red background

    Is Donald Trump a fascist?

    The US presidential election is neck and neck. But only one candidate has been compared to Adolf Hitler. Is it an exaggeration or based in fact?

April 2024

  • Illustration: Lehel Kovács/The Guardian

    The Audio Long Read
    Rage, waste and corruption: how Covid changed politics – podcast

    Four years on from the start of the pandemic, the drama may have subsided but the lingering effects go on. Are we suffering from political long Covid? By David Runciman
    Podcast33:46

March 2024

  • Illustration of Liz Truss’s head against blue background, with white shading across it and red on her eyelids and lips

    ‘She still carries an aura of spectacular failure’: why hasn’t Liz Truss gone away?

  • illustration of male politician figure at lectern, distorted by digital graphical glitches and surrounded by small coronavirus particles

    The long read
    Rage, waste and corruption: how Covid changed politics

September 2023

  • An illustration of Elon Musk’s head with the top removed to reveal metal workings and cogs

    What makes Elon Musk tick? I spent months following the same people as him to find out who fuels his curious worldview

  • Elon Musk graphic

    Weekend
    What makes Elon Musk tick?; Marina Hyde on the Russell Brand allegations – podcast

    Podcast42:13

August 2023

  • robots at work

    The end of work: which jobs will survive the AI revolution?

    Smart machines are meant to work for us, but there are already signs that we will end up working for them. What will the workplace of the future look like, and will your role still exist?

January 2022

  • Illustration of Dominic Cummings with strips of paper spewing out of his mouth

    Intoxicating, insidery and infuriating: everything I learned about Dominic Cummings from his £10-a-month blog

    Since he left Downing Street, Boris Johnson’s former adviser has been setting out his worldview – and settling scores – on his Substack. Could it help us understand the most notorious man in British politics?

December 2021

  • Longread should children get the vote

    The Audio Long Read
    Votes for children! Why we should lower the voting age to six – podcast

    Welcome to a new series of long reads: Reconstruction after Covid

    The generational divide is deforming democracy. But there is a solution
    Podcast31:19

November 2021

  • illustration: abstract collage of children, voting cards and political rosettes

    The long read
    Votes for children! Why we should lower the voting age to six

    The long read presents Reconstruction after Covid: The generational divide is deforming democracy. But there is a solution

March 2021

  • Jonathan Sumption

    Book of the day
    Law in a Time of Crisis by Jonathan Sumption review – beyond the lockdown sceptic

    The former judge’s views on everything from Magna Carta to cancel culture reflect the changing reputation of an eminent historian and notorious lockdown sceptic

January 2021

  • Illustration by Matt Kenyon

    Biden wants unity and democracy. But in the US these have always been in conflict

    David Runciman
    Its institutions were designed to keep the people out. The new president could have blamed the founding fathers, says professor of politics David Runciman

October 2020

  • Boris Johnson leaving Downing Street.

    Boris Johnson is learning that in politics you cannot simply 'follow the science'

    David Runciman
    The prime minister is trying to pretend that nakedly political decisions are driven by data. But almost no one buys it, says academic David Runciman

September 2020

  • John F Kennedy, left, ‘came to rely on Bobby to do his dirty work’.

    Book of the day
    JFK: Volume One by Fredrik Logevall review – the Kennedys and the Trumps

    A riveting study of young JFK considers the role of his father and brothers, and the rivalries propelled by valour, greed and vanity within the Kennedy clan

March 2020

  • BEN JENNINGS illustration

    Coronavirus has not suspended politics – it has revealed the nature of power

    David Runciman
    In a lockdown, we can see the essence of politics is still what Hobbes described: some people get to tell others what to do, says David Runciman, professor of politics at Cambridge University

February 2020

  • It was all a dream: there was no way to stop Brexit

    David Runciman
    For remainers who felt the EU referendum had broken politics, only a second could repair it. But this was a mistake, says David Runciman, professor of politics at Cambridge university

November 2019

  • Prime Minister’s Questions<br>Outgoing Prime Minister Theresa May with her husband Philip outside 10 Downing Street, prior to a meeting at Buckingham Palace where she will hand in her resignation to Queen Elizabeth II. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Wednesday July 24, 2019. See PA story POLITICS Tories. Photo credit should read: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

    Book of the day
    May at 10 by Anthony Seldon review – politics and pressure

    Could Theresa May have delivered a deal? And was she right to call an election? A study of the what ifs of Brexit

August 2019

  • ‘The only game-changing asset Johnson has that his predecessor may have lacked is a willingness to embrace his inner Trump’

    Stamina, intelligence, ego: which personality traits make the best leaders?

    Some say a second-class mind makes for a first-class leader, others that madness is an essential feature of the role. From Trump and Obama, to Blair and Boris Johnson, which personalities are born to rule?

November 2018

  • Margaret Thatcher in 1979.

    Further reading
    From Hamilton to Thatcher: the best books about divided governments

    As Westminster coups simmer and Brexit negotiations come to a head, David Runciman chooses books that explore political division – and why we need it
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