Biography of José María Maravall Herrero
- Born in Madrid in 1942.
- Director of the Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Ciencias Sociales (Advanced Social Science Studies Centre) at the Juan March Institute in Spain.
- Sociology Chair at Madrid Complutense University.
- Honorary Fellow of St. Anthony's College at Oxford University (1984) and Fellow of the British Academy (FBA) (2002).
- He holds doctorate degrees from Madrid University (1969) and Oxford University (1975), as well as a D. Litt. (Hons.) from Warwick University (1985).
- Since 1973, on several occasions, he has been Research Fellow at St. Anthony's College in Oxford; Senior Lecturer at Warwick University; Visiting Chair in the Political Science Department at New York University; Visiting Chair at the Centre for European Studies at Harvard University; Visiting Chair in the Political Science Department at Colombia University, and has given classes in the Jean Monnet Chair at the European University Institute in Florence.
- From 1982 to 1988 he was Spain's Minister of Education and Science.
- His published works include: Dictadura y Disentimiento Político (1978), La Política de la Transición (1982), Las Reformas Económicas en las Nuevas Democracias (with L.C. Bresser and A. Przeworski) (1993); Los Resultados de la Democracia (1995), Regimes, Politics, and Markets (1997), Democracy and the Rule of Law (with A. Przeworski) (2003), El Control de los Políticos (2003), and Controlling Governments (with I. Sánchez-Cuenca) (2007). He has also published in sociology and political science journals in Great Britain, United States, France, Italy and other countries.
- He has been distinguished with the Grand Crosses of Carlos III (1989) and Alfonso X El Sabio (1995), and the title of Chevalier des Palmes Academiques (France) (1985).