Edward Christie Banfield (November 19, 1916 – September 30, 1999) was an American political scientist, best known as the author of The Moral Basis of a Backward Society (1958), and The Unheavenly City (1970). His work was foundational to the advent of the policing tactic of broken windows theory, which was first advocated by his mentee James Q. Wilson in an Atlantic Monthly article entitled “Broken Windows”.
Books in order of publication:
Government Project (1951)
Politics, Planning, and the Public Interest, with Martin Meyerson (1955)
The Moral Basis of a Backward Society (1958)
Government and Housing in Metropolitan Areas, with Morton M. Grodzins (1958)
A Report on the Politics of Boston, with Martha Derthick (1960)
Political Influence (1961/1982/2003)
Urban Government: A Reader in Politics and Administration (1961)
City Politics, with James Q. Wilson (1963)
American Foreign Aid Doctrines (1963)
Big City Politics (1965)
Boston: The Job Ahead, with Martin Meyerson (1966)
The Unheavenly City (1970)
The Unheavenly City Revisited: A Revision of The Unheavenly City (1974)
The Democratic Muse: Visual Arts and the Public Interest (1984)
Here the People Rule: Selected Essays (1985, reprinted with additional essays in 1991)
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