Joel S. Migdal is the Robert F. Philip Professor of International Studies in the University of Washington's Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. He is a political scientist specializing in comparative politics.

He received a B.A. from Rutgers University in 1967. He then earned an M.A. (1968) and Ph.D. (1972) from the Department of Government of Harvard University.^[2]

Previously he served as an associate professor of government at Harvard University (1975–80) and a lecturer and senior lecturer at Tel Aviv University (1972–75).^[3] He came to the University of Washington in 1982 and was named the Robert F. Philip Professor of International Studies in 1994.

• Member editorial board, Comparative Political Economy Book Series, School of Government at Peking University, China
• President, Association for Israel Studies, 2003–2005
• Vice-president, Association for Israel Studies, 2001–2003
• Editor, Studies on Israel series of the University of Wisconsin Press
• Member, Visiting Committee, Harvard University Center for Middle Eastern Studies
• Chair, Visiting Committee, Harvard Academy of International and Area Studies
• Member, Editorial Board, Israel Studies Forum: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 2001–present.
• Member, Editorial Board, World Politics, 1996–present.
• Member, Editorial Board, Comparative Political Studies, 1992–present.
• Member, American Political Science Association.
• Member of the International Joint Committee for the Near and Middle East, Social Science Research Council, 1988–1996. Chair of Committee, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–96.

• Fellowship, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ, 2009–2010
• Provost Distinguished Lecturer, University of Washington, 2008
• Marsha L. Landolt Distinguished Mentor Award, University of Washington, 2006
• Lady Davis Fellow, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2002–2003
• Governor's Writers Award, 1994, for Palestinians: The Making of a People
• Distinguished Teaching Award, University of Washington, 1993
• Student Service Award, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, 1992 (awarded in recognition of outstanding service to students in the International Studies Program)
• Yavor Prize for the best work on developing countries, 1986, awarded by the David Horowitz Institute for the Research of Developing Countries for Strong Societies and Weak States: State Society Relations and State Capabilities in the Third World.
• Principal Investigator for three major federal grants (Department of Education, Washington,D.C.) totalling well over $1 million
• World Society Fellowship (1989–90)
• Fulbright Research Fellowship (declined)
• Fulbright-Hayes Research Fellowship (1985–86)
• Phi Beta Kappa
• Harvard University Graduate Prize Fellowship
• Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship

• "Shifting Sands: The United States in the Middle East", (New York: Columbia University Press, forthcoming fall 2013)
• "Boundaries and Belonging: States and Societies in the Struggle to Shape Identities and Local Practices", (editor) (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004).
• "The Palestinian People: A History", (with Baruch Kimmerling) (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003).
• "Through the Lens of Israel: Explorations in State and Society", (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2001).
• "State-in-Society: Studying How States and Societies Transform and Constitute One Another": (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001).
• Joel S. Migdal, Atul Kohli, Vivienne Shue, eds., State Power and Social Forces: Domination and Transformation in the Third World (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
• Joel S. Migdal, "Palestinians: The Making of a People": (with Baruch Kimmerling ) (New York: The Free Press, 1993). Paperback edition, Harvard University Press, 1994. Italian edition (I palesti¬nesi: la genesi di un popolo), La Nuova Italia, 1994—second Italian edition, 2003; Hebrew edition, Keter, 1999. Serialized by Al-Ithihad (Israeli newspaper in Arabic), Jan.-March 2000. Arabic edition, The Palestinian Forum for Israeli Studies (Madar), 2001.
• Ellis Goldberg, Resat Kasaba, and Joel S. Migdal, eds., "Rules and Rights in the Middle East: Democracy, Law and Society", (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1993).
• "Strong Societies and Weak States: State-Society Relations and State Capabilities in the Third World", (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1988).
• Joel S. Migdal, et al., "Palestinian Society and Politics", (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1980).
• John D. Montgomery, Harold D. Lasswell, and Joel S. Migdal, eds., "Patterns of Policy: Com-parative and Longitudinal Studies of Population Events" (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1979).
• "Peasants, Politics, and Revolution: Pressures Towards Political and Social Change in the Third World" (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1974) Chinese edition, 1996.