Posner, Daniel N.

PERSONAL:

Education: Dartmouth College, A.B. (magna cum laude), 1990; Harvard University, Ph.D., 1998.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of Political Science, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1472; fax: 310-825-0778. E-mail—dposner@polisci.ucla.edu.

CAREER:

Academic. University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), assistant professor of political science, 1998-2005, associate professor of political science, 2005—, co-convenor of the Working Group in African Political Economy (WGAPE), 2002—, UCLA Center for Economic History faculty associate, 2006—, director of the UCLA Global Fellows Program, 2007—.

Institute for the Study of World Politics dissertation fellow, 1992-93; Social Science Research Council international predissertation fellow, 1993-94; Harvard University Academy for International and Area Studies academy scholar, 1995-98; University of California, Los Angeles, Cattell fellow, 2000-01; Stanford University Hoover Institution national fellow, 2001-02; Minorities at Risk Project advisory board member, 2002—; University of Southern California Center for International Studies visiting scholar, 2003-04; Carnegie Corporation Carnegie scholar, 2003-06; California Institute of Technology visiting associate in political science, 2005-07; Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences eligible fellow. Reviewer for numerous publishers, including W.W. Norton, Cambridge University Press, Westview Press, Indiana University Press, Lynne Rienner Publishers, Encyclopedia Britannica, and the National Science Foundation.

MEMBER:

Phi Beta Kappa, American Political Science Association.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Rockefeller Prize, Dartmouth College Department of Government, 1990, for the best undergraduate thesis written in the field of comparative politics; Gabriel Almond Award, American Political Science Association, 1999, for the best doctoral dissertation in the field of comparative politics in the previous two years; faculty career development award, University of California, Los Angeles, 2001-02; Sage Award, Comparative Politics Section of the American Political Science Association, 2004, for the best paper in comparative politics presented at the previous annual meeting; best book award, African Studies Association African Politics Conference Group, 2006, for Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa; Luebbert Award, Comparative Politics section of the American Political Science Association, 2006, for best book in comparative politics, for Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa.

WRITINGS:

Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa, Cambridge University Press (New York, NY), 2005.

Contributor to journals and periodicals, including American Journal of Political Science, Comparative Politics, World Politics, Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, British Journal of Political Science, World Development, Journal of Theoretical Politics, Journal of Economic History, Rationality and Society, Social Science Quarterly, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Journal of Modern African Studies, Africa Today, Studies in Comparative International Development, Political Research Quarterly, and American Political Science Review. On editorial board of Journal of Politics, 2005-07.

SIDELIGHTS:

Daniel N. Posner is an academic. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in government from Dartmouth College in 1990, graduating magna cum laude. He continued his graduate studies at Harvard University, ultimately earning a Ph.D. in government in 1998. After finishing his formal education, Posner began working as an assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles. By 2002, he was named co-convenor of the Working Group in African Political Economy (WGAPE) at the university. In 2005, he was promoted to associate professor of political science, and in 2006 he became a faculty associate with the university's Center for Economic History. The following year, Posner became the director of the university's Global Fellows Program.

Posner published his first book, Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa, in 2005. The book received the Luebbert Award from the Comparative Politics section of the American Political Science Association and a best book award from the African Studies Association African Politics Conference Group, both in 2006. The book outlines the evolution and actual formation of ethnic identities in Zambia, a country in the south of Africa. In particular, Posner shows how the shifting forms of the country's government and its political parties have a direct effect on how the people identify themselves and others in their country.

Nicolas van de Walle, reviewing the book in Foreign Affairs, commented that "this major advance in the study of ethnic politics has important implications for both scholars and policymakers." Nelson Kasfir, writing in the Political Science Quarterly, observed that Posner's attention to detail "is exemplary." Kasfir concluded that "he delves deeply into Zambian colonial and independent history to demonstrate not only the formation of the many ‘tribal’ and few linguistic groups, but also why and how much their group sizes have changed. In demonstrating his argument, he deftly deploys a wide range of social scientific techniques in a fully persuasive account."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, December, 2005, H. Glickman, review of Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa, p. 735.

Foreign Affairs, November-December, 2005, Nicolas van de Walle, review of Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa.

International Affairs, January 1, 2006, Patrick Chabal, review of Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa, p. 234.

Journal of Modern African Studies, June 1, 2006, John Boye Ejobowah, review of Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa, p. 341.

Journal of Peace Research, May 1, 2006, Kathrine Holden, review of Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa, p. 357.

Political Science Quarterly, summer, 2006, Nelson Kasfir, review of Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa, p. 330.

Reference & Research Book News, February 1, 2006, review of Institutions and Ethnic Politics in Africa.

ONLINE

University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Political Science Web site,http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/polisci/ (April 22, 2008), author profile.

University of California, Los Angeles, International Institute Web site,http://www.international.ucla.edu/ (April 22, 2008), author profile.