Rate My Professor Harold Clarke

Harold D. Clarke was the Ashbel Smith Professor of Political Economy in Political Science within the School of Economic, Political and Policy Sciences at The University of Texas at Dallas, where he served from 2001 until his death on January 11, 2022, at the age of 78. An internationally recognized elections scholar, he played a vital role in the growth and development of the university's political science program. Clarke earned his PhD from Duke University and his bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Iowa. Prior to joining UT Dallas, he was Regents Professor and Chair of the Department of Political Science at the University of Essex in England from 1998 to 2001, and previously held faculty positions at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada.

Clarke's research specializations included electoral choice, voting behavior, political parties, public opinion, and the political economy of party support in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada. He co-directed the British Election Study for more than 20 years and served as Chief Research Director of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems, relocating both major international research programs to UT Dallas. He authored or co-authored ten books and more than 100 articles and book chapters in leading journals such as the American Political Science Review, the American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, and Electoral Studies, for which he served as editor. Clarke supervised numerous PhD students to completion, contributed to editorial boards, and delivered public analyses on topics including Hong Kong voter mindsets and foreign policy influences on elections. His scholarship had substantial impact on understanding voter dynamics and party competition globally.