Meet The New Council Members: David Lake

David LakeDavid A. Lake is the Jerri-Ann and Gary E. Jacobs Professor of Social Sciences and Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego. His research focuses broadly on international relations. He is the author The Statebuilder’s Dilemma: Legitimacy, Loyalty, and the Limits of External Intervention (Cornell 2016), Hierarchy in International Relations (Cornell 2009), Entangling Relations: American Foreign Policy in its Century (Princeton 1999), and Power, Protection and Free Trade: International Sources of U.S. Commercial Strategy, 1887-1939 (Cornell 1988). He is also the co-author of a comprehensive textbook on World Politics: Interests, Interactions, and Institutions (third edition, Norton 2016) and co-editor of nine volumes on international political economy, international security, and international organizations. His research articles have appeared in the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the European Journal of International Relations, International Organization, International Security, World Politics, and many other journals.

Lake received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1984 and was on the faculty of the University of California, Los Angeles, from 1983-1992. At UCSD, Lake has served as Research Director for International Relations at the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (1992-1996 and 2000-2001), chair of the Political Science department (2000-2004), Associate Dean of Social Sciences (2006-2015), and Director of the Yankelovich Center for Social Science Research (2013-present). In the profession, he has served as co-editor of the journal International Organization (1997-2001), co-founder of the Political Science Network within the Social Science Research Network (2007), founding chair of the International Political Economy Society (2005-2012), and President of the International Studies Association (2010-2011). The recipient of UCSD Chancellor’s Associates Awards for Excellence in Graduate Education (2005) and Excellence in Research in Humanities and Social Sciences (2013), he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006 and was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in 2008-2009. He also received the Outstanding Mentor award from the Society of Women in International Political Economy in 2012 and has helped train over 60 Ph.D. students at UCLA and UCSD.

Within the American Political Science Association, Lake was the founding chair of the Section on Political Economy (1990-1992), a member of the editorial search committee for Perspectives on Politics (2004), program co-chair (2007), a member of the APSA Trust and Development Committee (2009-2011), a member of the Governing Council (2011-2013), Chair of the Rules Committee (2012-2013), and Chair of the ad hoc Committee on Governance Reform (2013-2016).


The APSA Nominating Committee met on February 13, 2015, and nominated the slate of officers and council members to serve beginning in fall 2015. The call for nominations was circulated widely among the membership with outreach to APSA committees and organized sections. The nominating committee made its decisions after careful deliberation and due consideration for the diversity of the field and the varied interests of political scientists. There were no additional nominees from the members, and council members and officers were approved in October 2015 by the APSA Council, under its power to fill interim vacancies (APSA Constitution, Article V). APSA welcomes the new council members and other officers to APSA leadership.