ABSTRACT This paper is concerned with an extension of a rotational limit equilibrium method for determining the permanent displacements of slopes under seismic excitation. In the proposed procedure, the sliding mass is treated as a rigid rotating body defined by a log spiral trace. Permanent displacements are obtained by double-integration of the equation of motion in a manner similar to Newmark’s translational sliding block method. The seismic slope stability analysis is based on the rotational (variational) limit equilibrium approach. This stability analysis was verified with dynamic experimental results obtained from centrifuge model testing. A series of parametric studies was conducted on “unstable” slopes, investigating the effects of soil properties and characteristics of excitation on the magnitude of permanent displacements. The higher the frictional angle, the smaller the permanent displacement of the slope is. Low excitation frequency yields larger slope displacement if the excitation is extended for the same time period of time. The effect of frequency becomes less distinct when a larger value of yield seismic coefficient is used. The proposed procedures produce a rational criterion to evaluate the seismic performance of simple slopes. This criterion is based on permanent displacement limit rather than factor of safety alone.