David Scott Palmer

Faculty Fellow
Professor of International Relations and Political Science, Boston University

dspalmer@bu.edu

Education

BA, Dartmouth College; MA, Stanford University; PhD, Cornell University

Expertise

Comparative Politics, International Relations, Latin American Studies

PalmerBiography

David Scott Palmer is the author of five books and more than 40 articles and book chapters on such topics as the Latin American military, democracy and its challenges, “informal politics” in highland Peru, Shining Path guerrilla movements in Latin America and Nepal, and the consequences of asymmetry in U.S. relations with Latin America. Palmer consults regularly with the U.S. Department of State and the National Intelligence Council, and continues to lecture at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute. His latest book manuscript, Power, Institutions, and Leadership in War and Peace: Lessons from Peru and Ecuador, 1995-1998 (with David Mares), is scheduled to be published by the University of Texas Press in early 2012.

At Boston University, Palmer has served as Chairman of the Political Science Department, Associate Chairman of the Department of International Relations, and Director of Latin American Studies and Co-Director of Peru Summer, both programs that he helped to found.

Before joining the Boston University faculty, he spent 12 years with the State Department as Chair of Latin American and Caribbean Studies and Associate Dean for Programs of the School of Area Studies at the Foreign Service Institute. He has also taught at a number of colleges and universities, including Bowdoin, Princeton, Georgetown, George Washington, The School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins, Salamanca (Spain), Catholic University (Peru), and The University of Chile. He served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Peru and was awarded a Fulbright Senior Lecturer Fellowship to the University of Huamanga (Ayacucho, Peru).

In Spring 2011, Palmer held the Federico Gil Chair in Politics at the University of Salamanca, Spain during his sabbatical semester.