Darren Zook

Darren C. Zook serves as Senior Lecturer in the Global Studies program at the University of California, Berkeley, and teaches courses in Political Science and International and Area Studies. He received his Ph.D. in History from UC Berkeley in 1998, focusing his dissertation on agrarian development in rural India. Over more than two decades at Berkeley, Zook has developed an extensive teaching portfolio encompassing diverse subjects such as the politics of music, human rights and international law, terrorism and security studies, multiculturalism and diversity, cybersecurity, and anti-corruption policy. His research interests extend to comparative politics across Nordic countries, Pacific Islands, Southeast Asia, and Northeast Asia, informed by extensive fieldwork in Asia, Latin America, the Pacific Islands, Africa, and northern Europe. In 2011-2012, he was a Fulbright Scholar researching cybersecurity in Singapore.

Zook has garnered significant recognition for his teaching excellence, becoming the first recipient of UC Berkeley’s Golden Apple award, selected by students as the best professor on campus. He was also named one of the “Top Ten Most Inspiring Professors at Cal” by College Magazine and praised for his contributions to education and socially-engaged scholarship that builds bridges between communities. His scholarly output includes numerous peer-reviewed articles, such as “Reforming North Korea: Law, Politics, and the Market Economy” in the Stanford Journal of International Law (Spring 2012), “Burma’s Excruciating Politics” in the Brown Journal of World Affairs (November 2011), “Making Space for Islam: Religion, Science, and Politics in Malaysia” in the Journal of Asian Studies (69.4, 2010), “Disability and Democracy in Cambodia” in Disability & Society (24.2, 2010), and “The Curious Case of Finland’s Clean Politics” in the Journal of Democracy (20.1, 2009). Additional works feature contributions to the Oxford Encyclopedia of Peace on globalization, terrorism, and international law (2010), as well as the book series Ourselves Among Others: Why Diversity Fails and What Will Make It Work, and Law School: A Guide for the Perplexed. Zook engages the public through TEDxMarin talks on the politics of laughter, Cal Alumni Association tours, and OLLI@Berkeley courses on global hotspots and democracy.

Professional Email: zookeeper@berkeley.edu