Russell Dalton, UCI political science professor, has received the 2012 Brian Farrell book prize from the Political Studies Association of Ireland for Political Parties and Democratic Linkage: How Parties Organize Democracy. Published in 2011, the book explains that despite rising cynicism and voter discontent, political parties are still vital in uniting disparate segments of government and in connecting citizens’ preferences to policies. The book was also recognized in 2011 with the Klingemann prize, awarded by the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems (CSES) and GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences in Germany, for best scholarship.