The Hon. Dr. David Walter Runciman (born 1967) is a British political scientist who teaches political theory at Cambridge University and is a fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He has worked as a columnist for the Guardian newspaper and written for many other publications. He currently writes about politics for the London Review of Books. His book The Politics of Good Intentions was adapted in part from his LRB articles. His most recent book, Political Hypocrisy (2008), explores the psychology of democracy from a historical perspective.

David Runciman is heir to his family's Viscountcy. He is the great nephew of celebrated historian Steven Runciman and his father, Garry Runciman, is also a noted political scientist and academic. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge.

At Cambridge, Runciman specialises in the development of the theory of the modern state, analysing the work of key thinkers such as Thomas Hobbes, Emmanuel Sieyes, Benjamin Constant and Max Weber, who all in turn influence his work The Politics of Good Intentions in which he employs these thinkers' theories to explain modern politics.

He is married to the food writer and historian Bee Wilson

External links

• Cambridge profile page
• Trinity Hall (Cambridge) profile page
• Video interview/discussion with Runciman and Will Wilkinson on Bloggingheads.tv