An award-winning lecturer and author, Professor King has been on the Harvard Kennedy School faculty since 1992. He brings a reputation as one of the world’s preeminent authorities on legislatures, election administration, and comparative political institutions.
As Faculty Chair of Harvard’s program for newly elected Members of the U.S. Congress, David King has been closely involved in the training and assessment of legislators since 1996. He ran a similar program for Members of the State Duma of the Russian Federation from 1994 through 2002 and he has consulted on constitutional design issues around the world. From 1995 to 1997 he directed with Phil Zelikow, Joseph Nye's project on the future of governance in the 21st century.
In the wake of the 2000 presidential elections, David King directed the Task Force on Election Administration for the National Commission on Election Reform at the request of former presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter. That effort culminated in landmark voting rights legislation signed by President Bush in late 2002. He also oversaw a comprehensive and successful evaluation of the Boston Election Department on behalf of Boston Mayor Thomas Menino (2006-2007).
Professor King was a key organizer of the U.S. State Department's 2008 "I-VOTE" program, through which 100 future leaders of emerging democracies observed elections in the United States. He is a mainstay in Harvard Executive Education programs for policymakers and military personnel from the U.S., Russia, China, and the Black Sea region. David King has also conducted specialized programs for political leaders in Chile, Greece, Mexico, Mongolia, Nicaragua, Panama, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam.
Professor King’s work on public support for the U.S. military has been widely cited, leading to a decade-long relationship with the Defense Sciences Research Board, the U.S. Marine Corps, and J. Walter Thompson.
A prolific and author, David King has written three books, articles in leading academic journals, chapters in edited volumes, and pieces for the popular press. His writings include, among other things, a detailed analysis of legislative procedures, a ground-breaking work on the causes of political polarization, and a blueprint for constitutional reform in Bolivia. In addition to university-wide teaching awards at Harvard, Professor King won the 1998 Richard F. Fenno Prize for “Best New Book on Legislatures” for Turf Wars, the 1998 “Current Outstanding Academic Book Award” for Why People Don’t Trust Government, and the 1993 E. E. Schattschneider Prize for the country’s “Best Dissertation in American Government.” |
