The Hon. David Walter Runciman (born 1967) is a British political scientist who teaches political theory at Cambridge University and is a fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge,[1] where he was educated following Eton College.[2]

He has worked as a columnist for The Guardian newspaper and written for many other publications.[3] He currently writes about politics for the London Review of Books.[4] His monograph The Politics of Good Intentions was adapted in part from his LRB articles.[5] His most recent book, Political Hypocrisy (2008), explores the political uses of hypocrisy from a historical perspective.[6]

Runciman is heir to his family's Viscountcy.[7] He is the great nephew of the historian the Hon. Sir Steven Runciman and his father, Viscount Runciman, Garry Runciman, is also a noted political scientist and academic,[8] who has also written for the LRB.

He specialises in the development of the theory of the modern state and on aspects of contemporary politics.

David Runciman is married to the food writer Bee Wilson.