Joseph L. Klesner joined the Kenyon faculty in 1985. He has frequently chaired the political science department as well as the international studies program. Klesner offers 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. He has served the College as chair of the Curricular Policy Committee, as chair of the Faculty, 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.

Selected Publications

"Corruption and Trust: Theoretical Considerations and Evidence from Mexico," Comparative Political Studies , 43, 10 (October 2010), forthcoming (with Stephen D. Morris).

"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.

"A Sociological Analysis of the 2006 Mexican Elections," forthcoming in Mexico's Choice: The 2006 Pressidential Election, ed. Jorge I. Dominguez, Chappell Lawson, and Alejandro Moreno (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009).

"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.

"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.

"Economic Integration and National Identity in Mexico," Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 12, 3/4 (September 2006), pp. 481-507.

Courses Taught

INST 201: Expansion of International Society
INST 401: Senior Seminar in International Studies
PSCI 242: State and Economy
PSCI 240: Modern Democracies
PSCI 342: Politics of Development
PSCI 343: Revolution and Development in Mexico and Central America
PSCI 347: Democracy and Development in Latin America
PSCI 355: Immigration, Citizenship, and National Identity