2004 Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Scholarship and Statesmanship 

2005 Francis Fukuyama, Identity, Immigration, and Liberal Democracy 

2006 Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Toward Islamic Democracies 

2007 Pierre Hassner, Russia’s Transition to Autocracy: The Implications for World Politics 

2008 Jean Bethke Elshtain, Religion and Democracy: Allies or Antagonists?  

2009 Nathan Glazer, Democracy and Diversity: Dealing with Deep Divides 

2010 Ivan Krastev, Paradoxes of the New Authoritarianism  

2011 Abdou Filali-Ansary, The Arab Revolutions: Democracy and Historical Consciousness  

2012 Alfred C. Stepan (with Juan J. Linz), Democratization Theory and the Arab Spring  

2013 Donald L. Horowitz, Ethnic Power Sharing and Democracy: Three Big Problems 

2014 Lilia Shevtsova, Russia’s Political System: The Drama of Decay  

2015 Andrew J. Nathan, The Puzzle of the Chinese Middle Class  

2016 Ghia Nodia, The Crisis of Postnationalism 

2017 William Galston, The Populist Challenge to Liberal Democracy 

2018 Anwar Ibrahim, Confronting Authoritarianism 

2019 Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, The Rise and Fall of 'Good Governance' Promotion 

2020 Minxin Pei, Totalitarianism's Long Dark Shadow Over China

2021 Ronald Deibert, Digital Subversion: The Threat to Democracy 

2022 Anne Applebaum, Autocracy Inc: How the World's Authoritarians Work Together 

2023 Larry Diamond, Power, Performance, and Legitimacy: Renewing Global Democratic Momentum