Wayne A. Selcher, PhD
 Professor of International Studies Emeritus

Department of Politics, Philosophy, and Legal Studies
Elizabethtown College
Elizabethtown, PA, USA   17022

Professional Profile

    Wayne A. Selcher graduated from Lebanon Valley College (B.A., Spanish) and the University of Florida (M.A., Latin American Studies and Ph.D., Political Science). From 1969 to May 2007 he taught at Elizabethtown College, where he was chair of the Department of Political Science from 1970 to 1996 and held an endowed chair as Professor of International Studies from 1984 to 2007.  He retired from full-time teaching at Elizabethtown College in May 2007, served as adjunct professor from 2007 to 2014, and continues to maintain the WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources, lecture occasionally, and help advance the College's international studies programs.

    Professor Selcher is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish and has spent about 3 years in Latin America, on over 40 trips to 11 countries in the region, in addition to the Caribbean.  He was a Fulbright Scholar four times, in Brazil, Argentina, and Chile.  His major academic interests are international relations, Latin American politics and foreign policy, American foreign policy, American values and culture in a comparative context, and Internet use in international studies teaching and research. Since 1999, he has been the creator, editor, and maintainer of the WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources, part of the WWW Virtual Library system.

    Professor Selcher is the author of two books and twenty-two articles and book chapters, as well as editor of and contributor to two books on Brazilian politics and foreign policy. He was on the board of the Pennsylvania-Bahia, Brazil Committee of the Partners of the Americas from 1990 to 1997, for several of those years as vice-president, and from 2009 to 2013. He was on the executive committee of the Brazilian Studies Association, 1997-98.

Principal Details and Publications

Education
PhD  in Political Science, minor in Latin American Studies, University of Florida, 1970. NDEA Title VI Fellow
PhD Dissertation: "The Afro-Asian Dimension of Brazilian Foreign Policy, 1956-1968."  Click here for a copy from the University of Florida Libraries, in PDF
MA  in Latin American Studies, University of Florida, 1965. NDEA Title VI Fellow
BA  in Spanish, Magna Cum Laude, Lebanon Valley College, 1964

Teaching and Administrative Experience at Elizabethtown College before Retirement in May 2007
Professor of International Studies (endowed chair)--1984 to 2007
Director of International Studies--1983 to 1998
Chair, Department of Political Science--1970 to 1996
Finalist for Professor of the Year Award, Elizabethtown College, 1990

Languages
Fluent in Portuguese and Spanish

Research Awards and Grants
Political Liberalization in Brazil selected by CHOICE magazine as one of the Outstanding Academic Books for 1987-88
Arthur P. Whitaker Prize of the Middle Atlantic Council of Latin American Studies for the best publication by a MACLAS member during 1985 and 1986
Special merit mention in the Hoover Institution competition for the best article published in a scholarly journal in 1985 on Latin American political affairs
Fulbright Faculty Research Abroad grants to Brazil, 1979 and 1990, through the U.S. Department of Education
Fulbright Lecturing Grant to Argentina, through the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars, June 1-July 15, 1989
Fulbright-Hays dissertation grant to Brazil, 1968
Howard Heinz Endowment research grant, 1984
Elizabethtown College’s Steinman Award for Excellence in Research, 1982 and 1986
Elizabethtown College’s Faculty Grants Committee research awards, 1974, 1979, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1996

Other Professional Activities and Achievements
Created, edit, and maintain the WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources,  part of the WWW Virtual Library system, 1999 to date
Occasional contributor to the Brazilian academic website on American politics and foreign policy, Observatório Político dos Estados Unidos, April 2021 to date:
    A. "Suggested Cost-Free Online Sources for U.S. Politics and Foreign Policy"  June 2021
   
B. "Is the United States 'Exceptional'?" (Link to PDF)  July 2021. Also published in Spanish in January 2022 as "¿Es Estados Unidos exceptional?" in the open-source academic journal of the University of Guadalajara, Mexico, Contextualizaciones Latinoamericanas. (Link to PDF)
   
C. "American Political Culture in Transition: The Erosion of Consensus and Democratic NormsFebruary 2024 (Link to PDF)
Occasional commentator in Portuguese on American and Latin American politics and foreign policy for the BBC Brasil Service, 2003 to 2010
United States Information Agency-sponsored speaking engagements in Argentina (1984 and 1988), Brazil (1983 and 1990), Bolivia (1990), and Mexico (1994)
Scholar-Analyst, U.S. Department of State, 1981-1986
Scholar-Diplomat participant, U.S. Department of State, January 1970
Lectures at the U.S. Foreign Service Institute, U.S. Army War College, National War College, Air University, Lauder Institute, and numerous U. S., Argentine, Brazilian, Chilean, Bolivian, and Mexican colleges and universities
Board member, Eastern Pennsylvania-Bahia, Brazil Committee of the Partners of the Americas, 1990-1997 and from 2009 to 2013
    (Developed and supported sister-state exchanges in judicial, university, journalism, health care, music, and small business areas)
Visiting research professor at the graduate program of the School of Administration (NPGA -Núcleo de Pós-Graduação em Administração), Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Brazil, June-October, 1996
Listed in the 18th edition (2001) of Marquis Who’s Who in the World,  the 58th edition (2004) of Marquis Who's Who in America, the 8th edition (2007-2008) of Marquis Who's Who in American Education,  and the 9th edition (2004-2005) of Educational Communications Who's Who among America’s Teachers.

Current Research
Internet use in international studies teaching and research; American democracy in comparative international context

Books
Editor and contributor, Political Liberalization in Brazil: Dynamics, Dilemmas, and Future Prospects (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1986). Contributed Introduction and chapter, "Contradictions, Dilemmas, and Actors in Brazil's Abertura, 1979-1985." This book is available from the Taylor & Francis Group in eBook form. Also available free to borrow from the Internet Archive. It was published in São Paulo in Portuguese by the cultural foundation CONVIVIO in 1988, as A abertura política no Brasil: Dinâmica, dilemas, e perspectivas

Editor and contributor, Brazil in the International System: The Rise of a Middle Power  (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1981). Contributed chapter, "Brazil in the World: A Ranking Analysis of Capability and Status Measures." This book is available from the Taylor & Francis Group in eBook form. Also available free to borrow from the Internet Archive.

Brazil’s Multilateral Relations: Between First and Third Worlds  (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1978). Available free to borrow from the Internet Archive.

The Afro-Asian Dimension of Brazilian Foreign Policy, 1956-1972  (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 1974). Available free to borrow from the Internet Archive.

Articles and Book Chapters

Wrote Preface in Portuguese for Ana Paula Tostes, Erica Simone Almeida Resende, and Tatiana Teixeira, Editors. Estudos Americanos em Perspectiva: Relações Internacionais, Política Externa e Ideologias Políticas. (Curitiba: Editora Appris, 2013), book downloadable here in PDF. 

With E. Fletcher McClellan and Oya Dursun-Ozkanca (2012): "Internationalizing General Education: The First-Year Seminar on Political Self-Determination and Internet-Based Political Research," Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 9:2, 150-166. Click here for a free electronic copy of this article in PDF.

“Use of Internet Sources in International Studies Teaching and Research." International Studies Perspectives  (May 2005) 6: 174–189. Click here for a free electronic copy of this article in PDF.

"The Politics of Decentralized Federalism, National Diversification, and Regionalism in Brazil." Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs XXXX, No. 4 (Winter 1998): 25-50.  Click here for a free electronic copy of this article in PDF.

"Fernando Collor’s Government after One Year: A Perestroika for Brazil?" Camões Center Quarterly III, Nos 1 and 2 (Spring and Summer 1991): 19-25. Click here for a free electronic copy of this article in PDF.

With E. Fletcher McClellan, "Sequential Writing Assignments in International Relations and American Government Survey Courses." The Political Science Teacher  (American Political Science Association) III, No. 3 (Summer 1990): 14-16.  Click here for a free electronic copy of this article in PDF.

"Electoral Trends and Governability in Brazil." Camões Center Quarterly II, Nos. 1 and 2 (Spring and Summer 1990): 10-12. Click here for a free electronic copy of this article in PDF.

"Brazil and the Southern Cone Subsystem." In Pope Atkins, ed. South America into the1990s: Evolving International Relationships in a New Era  (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1990): 87-120. This book is available free to borrow from the Internet Archive.

"A New Start Toward a More Decentralized Federalism in Brazil?" Publius--The Journal of Federalism  XIX, No. 3 (Summer 1989): 167-183. Click here for a free electronic copy of this article in PDF. Published in Portuguese as "O Futuro do Federalismo na Nova República." Revista de Administração Pública (Rio de Janeiro) XXIV, No. 1 (November 1989-January 1990): 165-190. Click here for a free electronic copy of this article in PDF.

"Current Dynamics and Future Prospects of Brazil’s Relations with Latin America: Toward a Pattern of Bilateral Cooperation." Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs  XXVIII, No. 2 (Summer 1986): 67-99. Also published in Política e Estratégia (São Paulo) and in the "Documentos de Trabajo" series of PROSPEL (Santiago, Chile).

"Brazilian-Argentine Relations in the 1980s: From Wary Rivalry to Friendly Competition." Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs XXVII, No. 2 (Summer 1985): 25-53. Also published in Política e Estratégia (São Paulo) III, No. 1 (1985) and in Estudios Internacionales (Santiago, Chile), No. 70 (1985). Click here for a free electronic copy of this article in PDF, in Spanish.

"Recent Strategic Developments in South America’s Southern Cone." In Heraldo Muñoz and Joseph S. Tulchin, eds. Latin American Nations in World Politics (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1984): 101-118. This book is available free to borrow from the Internet Archive.

"Brazil’s Foreign Policy: More Actors and Expanding Agendas." In Jennie K. Lincoln and Elizabeth G. Ferris, eds. The Dynamics of Latin American Foreign Policies: Challenges for the 1980s (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1984): 101-123. This book is available free to borrow from the Internet Archive.

"Brazil-Africa Relations: Third World Alternatives for Development and Security." In Bruce E. Arlinghaus, ed. African Security Issues: Sovereignty, Stability, and Solidarity (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1984): 59-75. This book is available free to borrow from the Internet Archive.

"Brazil in the International System, 1982-March 1983: The Supremacy of Economics." In Jack W. Hopkins, ed. Latin America and Caribbean Contemporary Record Vol. II (New York: Holmes & Meier, 1984): 85-98.

"Uncertain Partners: South--South Trade between Brazil and Black Africa." Managing International Development I, No. 1 (January-February 1984): 7-23. Click here for a free electronic copy of this article in PDF.

"Dilemas de política en las relaciones de Brasil con África: ejemplo de obstáculos en las relaciones Sur-Sur." Foro Internacional  (Mexico City) XXIII, No. 1 (July-September 1982): 19-38. Click here for a free electronic copy of this article in PDF, in SpanishPublished in Portuguese as "Dilemas politicos nas relacoes Brasil-Africa: Comentario sobre alguns obstaculos politicos nas relacoes sul-sul." Estudos Afro-Asiaticos, No. 10 (1984): 55-72.

"Brazil in the World: Multipolarity as Seen by a Peripheral ADC Middle Power." In Elizabeth G. Ferris and Jennie K. Lincoln, eds. Latin American Foreign Policies: Global and Regional Dimensions (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1981): 81-101. Click here for a free electronic copy of this chapter in PDF.This book is available free to borrow from the Internet Archive. A portion of this chapter was republished in G. Harvey Summ, ed. Brazilian Mosaic: Portraits of a Diverse People and Culture (Scholarly Resources Books, 1995), a collection of 44 essays on the Brazilian character, written mainly by foreign observers over the previous century. The latter book is available free to borrow from the Internet Archive.

"Brazil in the Global Power Systems," Occasional Papers Series, Number 11, Center of Brazilian Studies, School of Advanced International Studies, The John Hopkins University, November 1979. Published in Portuguese as "O Brasil no sistema mundial de poder." Convivium (São Paulo) Number 1 (1980): 51-78.

"Brazil's Candidacy for Major Power Status: Short-Term Problems and Long-Term Optimism." Intellect, CV, No. 2385 (June 1977): 400-404.

"The National Security Doctrine and Policies of the Brazilian Government." Parameters-Journal of the U.S. Army War College, VII, No.1 (1977): 10-24.  Click here for a free electronic copy of this article in PDF.

"The National Security Doctrine and Policies of the Brazilian Government." Military Issues Research Memorandum (U.S. Army War College) ACN 77027 (July 15, 1977).  Click here for a free electronic copy of this monograph in PDF.

"Brazilian Relations with Portuguese Africa in the Context of the Elusive 'Luso-Brazilian Community'." Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs XVIII, No.1 (February 1976): 25-58. Click here for a free electronic copy of this article in PDF

"Brazil and the Independence of Sub-Saharan Africa: A Bibliographical Survey." In Daniel G. Matthews, ed. Current Themes in African Historical Studies: A Selected Bibliographical Guide to Resources for Research in African History. African Bibliographic Center. Special Bibliographic Series. Vol. 7. No. 2.  (Westport, Connecticut: Negro Universities Press, 1970): 377-389. Click here for a free electronic copy of this article in PDF.

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Maintained by Professor Emeritus Wayne A. Selcher
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