Distinguished Professor of Political Science
searing@unc.edu
Curriculum Vitae
319 Hamilton Hall
Office Hours: Tuesday 12:45-1:45 and by appointment
Donald D. Searing, Burton Craige Distinguished Professor of Political Science, writes on comparative politics, political behavior, political psychology, and political elites. He has published articles on these subjects in The American Political Science Review, British Journal of Political Science, and most major professional journals in the discipline. He is also the author of Westminster’s World: Understanding Political Roles (Harvard University Press). Professor Searing is engaged in a research program addressing the psychology of political leadership. He analyzes interview, re-interview, and behavioral data on UK Members of Parliament and Ministers across four decades of their political careers. The project focuses on character traits: public service motivations, political ambition, political integrity and political judgment. It investigates their psychological structure and dynamics, origins in pre-career and institutional learning, and behavioral consequences. Professor Searing has served on the Council of the American Political Science Association and on the editorial boards of the leading political science journals and has received a number of professional awards and honors including a Guggenheim Fellowship.