Kurt Jefferson, PhD

About Kurt

Kurt W. Jefferson is Professor in the Doctoral Program in Leadership in the College of Education at Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky. He served as Dean of Graduate Education from 2017-25 at Spalding. He holds a PhD in political science from the University of Missouri-Columbia. He is the author of The Wars of Israel: Politics, Economics, and Security Before October 7, 2023, and Beyond (2025). He is the co-editor (with Tobias T. Gibson) of both International Security Studies and Technology: Approaches, Assessments, and Frontiers (2024) and Contextualizing Security: A Reader (2022) (with Tobias T. Gibson). His published articles are found in a number of scholarly journals including the Journal of Scientific Psychology, American Review of Politics, Journal of Legislative Studies, Global Economic Review, PS: Political Science and Politics, the European Society of Medicine’s Medical Research Archives, Security and Defence Quarterly, and Current Politics and Economics of Europe. In Summer 2019, he was a Guest Lecturer in political science and American politics at the Center for American Studies at the University of Belgrade (Serbia). In 2010, he served as Visiting Professor of Global Business and Politics at ICN Graduate Business School (Nancy, France). He was President of the Central Slavic Conference (2005-08). He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Scientific Psychology. He was a participant in the Council of Independent Colleges and Council of American Research Centers seminar on “Teaching about Islam and Middle Eastern Culture” in January 2010. He was Assistant Dean for Global Initiatives and Director of the Churchill Institute for Global Engagement at Westminster College (Fulton, Missouri) from 2010-17. He has taught courses at the undergraduate level on a wide variety of topics including international relations, American foreign policy, international law and organizations, Middle Eastern history and politics, European government and politics, Central European politics and history, and post-Soviet history and politics. He has also taught global leadership in local and transnational contexts at the doctoral level at Spalding. Dr. Jefferson was the Buschman-President’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2016 at Westminster. He was also a Health Enterprises Network Fellow of the Greater Louisville, Inc. in 2018 and won the Sacagawea Award for contributions to the MS in Athletic Training Program at Spalding in 2022. He was named a Kentucky Colonel by Governor Andy Beshear in October 2024 for his contributions to higher education in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He was named “20 People to Know in Higher Education” by Louisville Business First in 2018. Dr. Jefferson’s geopolitical, security, and conflict analyses have been aired on CBS Radio News, BBC World Service (Arabic Service), Wisconsin Public Radio, Radio Jamaica (Kingston), and BBC Radio 4. His written news analysis and commentary on global affairs have appeared in the Louisville Courier-Journal, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Vanguardia Dossier (Barcelona), and The Christian Science Monitor. He and his wife, Lori, live in Jeffersontown, Kentucky.

Publications

• Books:
• The Wars of Israel: Politics, Economics, and Security Before October 7, 2023, and Beyond (Oak Park, IL: GGV Publishing, 2025).
• International Security Studies and Technology: Approaches, Assessments, and Frontiers (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2024). (with Tobias T. Gibson, eds.)
• Contextualizing Security: A Reader (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2022) (with Tobias T. Gibson, eds.)
• Celtic Politics: Politics in Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 2011).
• Christianity’s Impact on World Politics: Not by Might, nor by Power (New York: Peter Lang, 2002).
• Published Scholarship in Article Form (including refereed articles, book chapters, and electronic publications):
• "The New Power model and United States national defence agility." (2025). Security and Defence Quarterly, 50(2), pp. 1--12. With Stephen R. Willis.
• "Understanding New Power Communities and Leadership in Medicine and Health Professions: A Review of Concepts and Literature." Medical Research Archives 12(8). With Kristina Bloch, Sytisha Claycomb, Jill Gaines, Elizabeth Harris, Destiny Livers, Krissalyn Love, Paula McCraney, Carmen Rivera, Colleen Murphy, Joshua Overton, Mario Ransan, Kaci Shipp, Laura Stimler, and Trevor Timmerberg.
• “Heimans and Timms’ New Power through the Lenses of Leadership Studies, Psychology, and Politics.” Journal of Scientific Psychology 15 (Winter 2021): 1-10. With Robert D. Mather, JaBani Bennett, Leslie Cairo, III, Laura Harbolt, Paul M. Ratterman, Janikaa Sherrod, Sara Story, Nathan Sturtzel, Jennifer Teater, and Christina Thomas).
• “Transitions in Europe: The Celtic Polities and Kosovo,” in Globalization and Regime Change in the New Russia and the New Europe, eds. Robin Alison Remington and Robert K. Evanson (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2019): 249-76.
• “The Authoritarian Voter? The Psychology and Values of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders Support.” Journal of Scientific Psychology 12 (May 2016): 1-8 (with Robert D. Mather).
• “Teaching about Celts and the Celtic Regions of United Kingdom and Ireland,” North American Journal of Welsh Studies 8 (2013): 113-20.
• “Genocide: Crimes against Humanity: Balkans.” In Patrick Mason, ed. 2013. Encyclopedia of
• Race and Racism, 2d ed. Detroit: Macmillan Reference/Gale, Cengage Learning: 220-23.
• “The Central Slavic Conference: Yesterday and Today.” New Ukraine/Nowa Ukraina/ноба юкраиа 11 (2011): 179-181.
• “Rusia, enfermo de Europa o potencia global?” (“Russia, patient of Europe or global power?”). Vanguardia Dossier (No. 34, January-March 2010): 72-76. Published in the issue “El poder global” (“Global Power”).
• “Rusia, un gran potencia: la fractura social y territorial” (“Russia, a great power: social and territorial fracture”). Vanguardia Dossier (No. 30, January-March 2009): 18-23. Published by La Vanguardia (Barcelona), Spain’s fourth largest newspaper.
• “Slovenia’s Accession of the European Union,” in Basil R. Jones, ed. Europe at the Crossroads. Hauppauge, New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2008.
• “Thermidor: The Scottish National Party in Power One Year On.” British Politics Group Quarterly. 132 (Spring 2008): 9-11.
• “Slovenia’s Accession of the European Union,” Current Politics of Russia, Eastern and Central Europe 21 (5, 2006): pp. 1-9.
• “Getting out the vote: the political communication capstone assignment,” (with Keith T. Hardeman) Iowa Journal of Communication 36 (No. 1, September 2004): 91-99.
• An abstract of “On the Periphery: Small Regions, Small Nations and the EU” [paper presented at the International Political Science Association’s 18th World Congress, Quebec City, Canada, August 1, 2000]. International Political Science Abstracts (Documentation Politique Internationale 51 (No. 4 supplement, 2000): 67.
• “The Bosnian War Crimes Trial Simulation: Teaching Students about the Fuzziness of World Politics and International Law.” PS: Political Science & Politics 32 (No. 3, September 1999): 589-592.
• “Can Small Nations Survive in a Federalizing Europe? The Economic and Political Development of Slovenia.” Global Economic Review 26 (No. 2, Summer 1997): 17-27.
• “The Scottish National Party, Postmaterialism and Left-libertarian Politics.” British Politics Group Newsletter (No. 88, Summer 1997): 12-14.
• An abstract of "An Analysis of Inter-Party Behaviour in the House of Commons: Scots MPs and Post-Materialism." International Political Science Abstracts (Documentation Politique Internationale) 47 (No. 1, 1997): 45.
• "An Analysis of Inter-Party Behaviour in the House of Commons: Scots MPs and Post-Materialism." The Journal of Legislative Studies. Vol. 1( No. 4, Winter 1995): 93-103.
• “Rejoinder to Lancaster.” American Review of Politics. Vol. 15 (Autumn 1994): 349-350.
• "Understanding Developing European Party Systems: A Case Study of Czechoslovakia." American Review of Politics. Vol. 15 (Autumn 1994): 329-338.
• "Scotland's Post-Election Fireworks: The Rivalry Between Labour and the SNP." Current Politics and Economics of Europe. Vol. 3, No. 1 (Fall 1993): 71-78.
• "The International Politics of Sport: Apartheid's Confounding Influence." Indian Journal of Social Research. Vol. 30, No. 4 (December 1989): 329-338.

Honors & Affiliations

• They are in my bio.