Rate My Professor Robert Best

Robert Best is Chair and Professor in the Department of Political Science at the State University of New York at Binghamton. His academic research centers on political parties and electoral politics within democratic systems of government. He examines the dynamics of party system size and fragmentation, party policy positions, electoral systems, voting behavior in industrialized democracies, party polarization, support for minor or new political parties, the geography of party support, and how electoral systems along with social divisions influence voting behavior. Best's scholarship has been published in prominent journals including Comparative Political Studies, Political Analysis, European Journal of Political Research, Electoral Studies, Government and Opposition, and Party Politics. Notable publications include 'Unfair Partisan Gerrymanders in Politics and Law: A Diagnostic Applied to Six Cases' (forthcoming in Election Law Journal, with Michael D. McDonald), 'The Perils and Pitfalls of Ignoring Disproportionality’s Behavioral Components' (Electoral Studies, 2015, with Andrei Zhirnov), 'How Party System Fragmentation Has Altered Political Opposition in Western Democracies' (Government and Opposition, 2013), 'The Long and the Short of It: Electoral Laws and the Dynamics of Party System Size in Western Democracies, 1950–2005' (European Journal of Political Research, 2012), and 'Representation as a Median Mandate versus Bilateralism: Taking Cross-National Differences Seriously' (European Journal of Political Research, 2012, with Ian Budge and Michael D. McDonald).

Best holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Science from Binghamton University (2007 and 2005), an M.A. in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago (2002), and a B.A. in Political Science from the University at Albany-SUNY (2001). His career includes positions as Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri (2010-2012), Assistant Professor at Leiden University in the Netherlands (2007-2010), and Instructor at Syracuse University (2006-2007), before joining Binghamton in spring 2013. Among his honors is first place in the 2015 Common Cause 'Gerrymander Standard' writing competition (with Michael D. McDonald). Best has served on graduate admissions and executive committees, faculty search committees, and as a participant in panels on the international job market for political science Ph.D.s. He has delivered public lectures at institutions such as Cornell University, the London School of Economics, Oxford University, and Pennsylvania State University. Additionally, he co-taught a summer course on West European Politics at Cornell in Italy and served as Assistant Editor for the Political Handbook of the World (2008-2011). His teaching portfolio encompasses undergraduate and graduate courses in comparative politics, European politics, political parties, elections, voting behavior, representation, research methodology, and rational choice theory.