I am Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Politics and the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University. My primary research interests are in the historical origins and normative logic of democratic institutions. 

Details about my research and teaching interests are available via the links.

My current book project is called Sheep May Safely Graze: Juries and Local Knowledge. It has received support from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council for Learned Societies, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

A second book project, No-Bullshit Democracy, co-authored with Henry Farrell and Hugo Mercier, is a cheekily-titled work analyzing the conditions under which democratic decision-making may yield good solutions to certain problems, and when it is more likely to fail.

My best-known work, by far, is a fun educational video on Athens created with a team at Ted-Ed:

http://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-did-democracy-really-mean-in-athens-melissa-schwartzberg