James Gibson

James Gibson is the Sidney W. Souers Professor of Government and Director of the Program on Citizenship and Democratic Values at the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy at Washington University in St. Louis. His research interests include judicial behavior and process, trial courts and criminal justice, constitutional law and civil liberties, and South African politics. Currently, Professor Gibson is researching the Cambodian public's reaction to the trials of the Khmer Rouge. He is author of the award-winning Overcoming Apartheid: Can Truth Reconcile a Divided Nation? (Russell Sage Foundation Publications, 2006), which investigates the hypothesis that truth led to reconciliation in post-apartheid South African society. Professor Gibson has published over 100 books, refereed articles, and chapters, including Overcoming Historical Injustices: Land Reconciliation in South Africa (Cambridge University, 2009), Citizens, Courts, and Confirmations: Positivity Theory and the Judgments of the American People (with Gregory A. Caldeira; Princeton University Press, 2009), and Overcoming Intolerance in South Africa: Experiments in Democratic Persuasion (with Amanda Gouws; Cambridge University Press, 2004). Professor Gibson is Professor Extraordinary in Political Science at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. In August, 2011, he received the American Political Science Association's Life Time Achievement Award in the Law and Courts Section, honoring a distinguished career of scholarly achievement. He holds a B.A. from Emory University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Iowa.