PAUL SUM
Associate Professor

Joined the college in 2000

Phone: 701.777.3550
Fax: 701.777.2085

EMail: psum@business.und.edu

Paul E. Sum received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Northwestern University in 1996. He came to the University of North Dakota in fall 2000.  He teaches courses in Comparative Politics, Democratization, Human Rights and Research Methodology.  Sum is an accomplished international evaluator and consultant. He has worked with the U.S. Agency for International Development, World Bank, Council of Europe, OSCE, Democracy International, National Democratic Institute, World Learning, International Research & Exchanges Board, and American Council for Learned Societies.

Sum's research agenda addresses cross-national differences in political culture and citizen mobilization especially within the context of democratization. His current interests explore determinants of generalized trust in terms of dispositions, experiences and contexts. Toward this end, he is involved in two projects: one evaluates trust among Romanian migrants, the second considers the formation of trust among high school students. He also continues to be interested in the effectiveness of civil society development assistance, especially the extent to which such assistance furthers the development of social capital through non-governmental organizations.

Sum's area of expertise is East-Central Europe and he maintains a special relationship with Romania. He held the position of Lecturer and Fellow at the Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration at Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania (1996-98) under a program funded by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Since 2007, he has held an academic appointment at the same faculty for the Masters in Research Design and Data Analysis Program. In 2009-10, Sum was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholar Award to Romania where he lectured and conducted research. He is the Chair for the Society for Romanian Studies related groups section of the American Political Science Association.

Publications on Democratization, Civil Society & Romania:

King, Ronald F. and Paul E. Sum, eds. (2011) Romania under Basescu: Aspirations, Achievements, and Frustrations during his First Presidential Term, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books http://www.lexingtonbooks.com/Catalog/SingleBook.shtml?command=Search&db=^DB/CATALOG.db&eqSKUdata=0739148567

Sum, Paul E. (2010) The Radical Right in Romania: Political Party Evolution and the Distancing of Romania from Europe, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 43(1): 19-29

Sum, Paul E. (2010) Dreapta radicala din România la alegerile europarlamentare din 2009 (Romania’s radical right at the 2009 European Parliamentary elections) in Mircea Cosma, Andrei Gheorghita, and Claudiu Tufts (eds.), European Parliamentary Elections: Romania 2009, Bucharest: Polirom Publishing: 201-19

Sum, Paul E. (2010) Douazeci de Ani de la Revolutie: Evaluarea Impactului Asistentei Democratice din Partea Statelor Unite asupra Societatii Civile Romane (Twenty Years after the Revolution: Evaluating the Impact of U.S. Democracy Assistance to Romanian Civil Society), in Vasile Boari, Natalia Vlas and Radu Murea (eds.), Romania: Twenty Years after the Fall of the Communist Regime, Iasi: Editura Institutul European: 277-91

Badescu, Gabriel and Paul E. Sum (2009) Coming Home: First and Second Order Effects of Returning Migrants on Economic Development through the Changing Dynamics of Social Capital, Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relations 11(3): 17-34

Sum, Paul E. (2005) Political Mobilization in Romania: Social Capital, Socialization and Political Participation, Romanian Journal of Society and Politics 5(1): 33-55

Badescu, Gabriel and Paul E. Sum (2005) Historical Legacies, Social Capital and Civil Society: Comparing Romania on a Regional Level, Europe-Asia Studies 57(1): 117-33

Badescu, Gabriel, Paul E. Sum and Eric M. Uslaner (2004) Civil Society Development and Democratic Values in Romania and Moldova, Eastern European Politics and Society 18(2): 316-41

Sum, Paul E. and Gabriel Badescu (2003) Participation in Romania: An Evaluation of Six Forms of Political Participation in Henry F. Carey (ed.), Romania Since 1989: Politics, Economics, and Society, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books: 179-194

 Broader Political Science Publications:

Jensen, Jason L., Paul E. Sum and David Flynn (2009) Political Orientations and Behavior of Public Employees: A Cross-National Comparison, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 19(4): 709-30

Sum, Paul E. and Gabriel Badescu (2008) Ideological Voting: A Cross-national Analysis of Left-Right Orientations on Voting Behavior, Studia Politica 53(1): 52-73

Teorell, Jan, Paul E. Sum and Mette Tobiasen (2007) Participation and Political Equality in Jan van Deth, Anders Westholm, and Jose Ramon Montero (eds.), Citizenship and Involvement in European Democracies: A Comparative Analysis, New York: Routledge: 384-414

Sum, Paul E., Steven Andrew Light and Ronald F. King (2004) Race, Reform and Desegregation in Mississippi Higher Education: Historically Black Institutions after United States v. Fordice, Law and Social Inquiry 29(2): 403-35

Publications in Teaching & Learning:

Sum, Paul E. and Steven Andrew Light (2010) Assessing Student Learning Outcomes and Documenting Programmatic and Institutional Success through a Capstone Course, PS: Political Science & Politics 43(2): 523-31 http://journals.cambridge.org/repo_A787MDGu

Grandel, Troy, Susan Martin, Russell Mayer, Paul E. Sum and Michael Welsh (2009) APSA Teaching and Learning Track Summaries: Program Assessment Track, PS: Political Science & Politics 42(3): 575-87