Biography

Gary Smith is a recent graduate from UCF’s Security Studies Ph.D. program and currently serves as an Academic Advisor in the School of Security, Politics, and International Affairs at UCF and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Political Science at Valencia College – Osceola. His research investigates how personality characteristics of world leaders can influence preferences for political violence, repression, and civil conflicts. Additionally, he is interested in researching how individual leaders can influence political and economic development policies in post-colonial countries. His collaborative research has appeared in African Affairs¸ The Oxford Handbook of Behavioral Political Science, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Foreign Policy Analysis, and The Oxford Handbook of Political Executives. His collaborative research on the scholarship of teaching and learning in Political Science has also appeared in Politics and PS: Political Science & Politics.

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