Demetrios Caraley, 1932–2020

Obituary

Professor of Political Science Emeritus and Janet Robb Professor of the Social Sciences Emeritus at Barnard College and the Graduate Faculties of Columbia University, Demetrios "Jim" Caraley was Editor Emeritus of the Political Science Quarterly and President Emeritus of The Academy of Political Science.

A specialist on city government and urban policies and problems and on congressional policies toward cities, Caraley published numerous books and articles including "Critical Issues for Clinton's Domestic Agenda," "Doing More With Less: Cutback Management in New York City," and "City Governments and Urban Problems." The New York Academy of Public Administration selected Caraley's article "Ending Welfare As We Know It: A Reform Still in Progress" (Political Science Quarterly Winter 2001-2002) as the "outstanding" article published in 2001. Caraley was both an appointed and elected official in Westchester County local government.

Caraley also published books in the field of national security policy, one being the August 2002 book, September 11, Terrorist Attacks, and U.S. Foreign Policy. He published The President's War Powers and The Politics of Military Unification, and in the summer of 1999, The New American Interventionism. Caraley's other field of interest was "Democratic Political Theory and Ethics," in which wrote a major article, "Elections and Dilemmas of American Democratic Governance," recently reprinted in Promise and Problems of Old and New Democracies, edited by Xiaobo Lü (2000).

Caraley was a Russell Sage Foundation Visiting Scholar for academic year 1995-96, where he worked on a continuing project called "Washington Abandons the Cities and the Urban Poor."

Among Caraley's major articles are:

"Washington Abandons the Cities,"

"Dismantling the Federal Safety Net: Fictions versus Realities" (in PDF, 2 MB) and

"Complications of American Democracy: Elections Are Not Enough" (in PDF, 2 MB).

Caraley appeared on The Advocates with Richard Garfunkel on WVOX AM 1460 and discussed the Political Science Quarterly.

Caraley was elected chairman of the Barnard Political Science Department for ten three-year terms, 1965-1995, was founding chairman of the Barnard Program on Urban Affairs, 1969-1995, and established the Columbia Graduate Program in Public Policy and Administration where he was the founding director, 1977-1985. Caraley served as a naval officer during the Korean War.

Academic Focus: 

Urban policy-making and government
Congress
Democratic political theory
Policy analysis

Awards & Honors: 

Grants from Committee on Research in the Social Sciences, The Urban Center, The Ford Foundation, H.E.W., the Exxon Education Foundation, the Department of Education, the Russell Sage Foundation

Harlan Fiske Scholar and elected to Columbia Law Review (Law School)

Phi Beta Kappa (junior year)

B. A. , Columbia, Summa Cum Laude

Member of the University Club of New York City. 1975

 

Last updated December 21, 2020