Since the seventies, Rosanvallon has published much discussed work on the theory and history of democracy, French political history, the role of the state and the question of social justice in contemporary society.
In recent years, he has established an international reputation with La contre-démocratie. La politique à l'âge de la défiance (Seuil 2006; in English: Counter-Democracy. Politics in an age of distrust, Cambridge University Press 2008) and La Légitimité démocratique. Impartialité, réflexivité, proximité (2008, in English: Democratic legitimacy: impartiality, reflexivity, proximity, Princeton University Press, Princeton 2011). The study La Société des égaux (Seuil 2011) is his most recent work.