Rate My Professor David Mason

David Mason serves as Regents Professor Emeritus and the Johnie Christian Family Peace Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science at the University of North Texas. Prior to joining UNT in 2002, he held faculty positions at Mississippi State University from 1981 to 1992 and at the University of Memphis from 1992 to 2002, where he co-founded and directed the Benjamin Hooks Institute for Social Justice. At UNT, Mason co-founded and was the inaugural director of the Castleberry Peace Institute and directed the university's Peace Studies program. Following the 9/11 attacks, he was named to the American Political Science Association's Task Force on Political Violence. He also served as Editor-in-Chief of International Studies Quarterly.

Mason's academic interests center on the dynamics of civil wars, including their causes, endings, recurrences, and counterinsurgency strategies, as well as political protests and peasant revolts in China. His influential publications include "The Political Economy of Death Squads: Toward a Theory of the Impact of State-Sanctioned Terror" (International Studies Quarterly, 1989), "How Civil Wars End: A Rational Choice Approach" (Journal of Conflict Resolution, 1996)—each garnering over 500 citations—"Sustaining the Peace: Determinants of Civil War Recurrence" (International Interactions, 2007), and "Win, Lose, or Draw: Predicting the Outcome of Civil Wars" (Political Research Quarterly, 1999). He authored Caught in the Crossfire: Revolution, Repression, and the Rational Peasant (2004) and co-edited What Do We Know about Civil Wars? (2014). Mason is currently completing The Ecology of Civil War, analyzing the onset, termination, and prevention of relapse into civil conflict. His work has profoundly impacted the fields of comparative politics and peace science. In recognition of his contributions, he received the UNT Foundation Leadership Award in 2015 and the Eminent Faculty Award in 2016.