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Uslaner, Eric M.

Eric M. Uslaner is Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland--College Park, where he has taught since 1975. In 1997-1998 he was Distinguished University Research Fellow at the University of Maryland and in 1981-82 he was Fulbright Lecturer and Visiting Professor, Departments of American Studies and Political Science, The Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. Professor Uslaner received his B.A. from Brandeis University cum laude with Honors in Politics in 1968 and his M.A. (1970) and Ph.D. (1973) in Political Science from Indiana University. In 2006 he was appointed the first Senior Research Fellow at the Center for American Law and Political Science at the Southwest University of Political Science and Law, Chongqing, China. In the Fall, 2010, he was the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in American Political Science at the School of Politics and International Relations at the Australian National University.

His books include The Movers and the Shirkers: Representatives and Ideologues in the Senate (University of Michigan Press, 1999); The Decline of Comity in Congress (University of Michigan Press, 1993), Shale Barrel Politics: Energy and Legislative Leadership (Stanford University Press, 1989). His current research focuses on why people trust each other, primarily in the United States but also across nations. His most recently published book (click here to download) is The Moral Foundations of Trust, which has been published by Cambridge University Press. Click here to order from Cambridge University Press or from amazon.com. Uslaner's , Corruption, Inequality, and the Rule of Law: The Bulging Pocket Makes the Easy Life, was published in 2008 by Cambridge University Press; paperback published in 2010; Chinese translation to be published by China Social Sciences Press and Japanese translation in progress. See details on the corruption web page. His new book in progress, Segregation and Mistrust: Diversity, Isolation, and Social Cohesion (under contract to Cambridge University Press) challenges the argument that diversity drives down trust and altruistic deeds. Rather, it is segregation and the lack of diverse ties that leads people to be less trusting. See the book prospectus and several papers on the diversity/segregation page. Uslaner teaches courses in American politics (especially on Congress and Congressional elections), social capital, and institutional design. He is the co-editor of Institutions and Social Order (University of Michigan Press, 1998). He has received a grant from the Russell Sage Foundation to examine "Inequality, Trust, and Civic Engagement" (click here to download the proposal in WordPerfect or Adobe Acrobat format). Uslaner was also the recipient of the Mentor of the Year Award from the Southern Regional Education Board. Uslaner is also working with Professors Paul Sum of the University of North Dakota and Gabriel Badescu of Babes-Bolyai University on trust and civic engagement in Romania and Moldova, with funding from the Institutional Review and Exchanges Board (IREX) Black and Caspian Sea Collaborative Research Program. See preliminary findings from the surveys of the mass publics and organizational activists in Romania and Moldova and their article in Eastern European Politics and Society. Uslaner is frequently quoted in the press (see the summary of his work on trust in the Washington Post's "Unconventional Wisdom" column on June 27, 1999 and the earlier Post story on trust in January, 1996). He talked about trust in other people on the "Chip Franklin Show" on WMAL radio, the ABC-owned newstalk station in Washington, D.C., on June 28, 1999. To listen to the radio interview using Real Player, click here. He also discussed The Moral Foundations of Trust on NPR's program On Point with Tom Ashbrook (produced by WBUR Boston) on December 30, 2002. Click here to listen to the program.

Affiliation

University of Maryland, College of Behavioral and Social Sciences

In the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences, our mission is to provide a stimulating environment where faculty and students can explore the human condition through the tools of research, teaching and service. Our research spans the life cycle and reaches across the globe as faculty and...

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