Joseph L. Klesner joined the Kenyon faculty in 1985, becoming provost in July 2013 after serving three years as associate provost. He has frequently chaired the political science department as well as the international studies program.
Klesner has offered courses in comparative politics, international relations and Latin American politics, as well as interdisciplinary courses in international studies. He has published many articles on Mexican politics and been cited as an expert in Mexican electoral politics by The New York Times and by The Economist. Klesner has also written on public opinion and political behavior in Latin America and on the pedagogy of comparative politics. His textbook, "Comparative Politics: An Introduction," appeared in 2014.
He has served the College as chair of the Curricular Policy Committee, as chair of the Faculty, twice as coordinator of the Presidential Search Committee and as chair of the Faculty Lectureships Committee. He has received research grants from…
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Joseph L. Klesner joined the Kenyon faculty in 1985, becoming provost in July 2013 after serving three years as associate provost. He has frequently chaired the political science department as well as the international studies program.
Klesner has offered courses in comparative politics, international relations and Latin American politics, as well as interdisciplinary courses in international studies. He has published many articles on Mexican politics and been cited as an expert in Mexican electoral politics by The New York Times and by The Economist. Klesner has also written on public opinion and political behavior in Latin America and on the pedagogy of comparative politics. His textbook, "Comparative Politics: An Introduction," appeared in 2014.
He has served the College as chair of the Curricular Policy Committee, as chair of the Faculty, twice as coordinator of the Presidential Search Committee and as chair of the Faculty Lectureships Committee. He has received research grants from a wide variety of sources, including the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Political Science Association. Klesner spent 2005-6 as a Fulbright Scholar at University College Dublin.
Education
1988 — Doctor of Philosophy from Massachusetts Institute Tech
1983 — Master of Science from Massachusetts Institute Tech
1980 — Bachelor of Arts from Central College Iowa
Courses Recently Taught
INST 401
Senior Seminar: Contemporary Global Issues
INST 401
This seminar will examine some of the problems inherent in cross-cultural comparison and will explore the ways in which a variety of disciplines grapple with these difficulties by investigating contemporary themes in international affairs. These themes will include some or all of the following: (1) ethnic conflict; (2) comparative perspectives on development; (3) religion and socioeconomic development; (4) contemporary environmental problems; (5) the ethics of armed intervention; (6) the emergence of a world popular culture and its consequences for national cultures; (7) the challenges of democratization and (8) perceptions of the United States, Americans and U.S. foreign policy abroad. Open only to international studies majors with senior standing. This interdisciplinary course does not count toward the completion of any diversification requirement. Offered every year.
Academic & Scholarly Achievements
2014
Comparative Politics: An Introduction (McGraw-Hill, 2014).
2013
“Las desigualdades en la participación política en el México contemporáneo,” in México: democracia y sociedad; más allá de la reforma electoral, ed. Arturo Alvarado (Mexico City: El Colegio de México, 2013), pp. 389-419.
2012
“Regionalism in Mexican Electoral Politics,” in Oxford Handbook of Mexican Politics, ed. Roderic Ai Camp (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), pp. 622-46.
2010
"Corruption and Trust: Theoretical Considerations and Evidence from Mexico," Comparative Political Studies, 43, 10 (October 2010), pp. 1258-85 (with Stephen D. Morris).
2009
"Who Participates Politically in Mexico? Socioeconomic Resources, Political Attitudes, and Social Capital as Determinants of Political Participation," Latin American Politics and Society , 51, 2 (Summer 2009), pp. 59-90.
2009
"A Sociological Analysis of the 2006 Mexican Elections," in Mexico's Choice: The 2006 Presidential Election, ed. Jorge I. Dominguez, Chappell Lawson, and Alejandro Moreno (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009), pp. 50-70.
2007
"Social Capital and Political Participation in Latin America: Evidence from Argentina,Chile, Mexico, and Peru," Latin American Research Review, 42, 2 (June 2007), pp. 1-32.
2007
"Does the Collapse of Single-Party Rule in Central and Eastern Europe Reveal the Path Down Which Mexico is Headed?"International Studies Review, 9, 2 (June 2007), pp. 326-337.
2006
"Economic Integration and National Identity in Mexico,"Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 12, 3/4 (September 2006), pp. 481-507.