Charles U. Zug

Charles U. Zug is an Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri, holding dual appointments in the Truman School of Government and Public Affairs (Department of Political Science) and the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy (Department of Constitutional Democracy). His research focuses on American political institutions, American political development (APD), presidential studies, and constitutional theory, employing archival research, process tracing, and interpretive methods.

• PhD in Government from the University of Texas at Austin

Zug’s scholarship interrogates the interplay between demagoguery and institutional design, as evidenced in his books Demagogues in American Politics (Oxford, 2022) and Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Federal Highway Act (Kansas, 2024). His upcoming work The Mythology of American Federalism (Oxford, under contract) challenges conventional assumptions about federalism’s constitutional origins. He is also co-editing Beyond Checks and Balances (Penn Press, 2026).

Recent publications (2023-2025) explore presidential leadership models, constitutional agonism, demagogic pathologies, and democratic mobilization. His work bridges political theory and empirical political science, emphasizing the necessity of historical grounding for meaningful theoretical insights. czug@missouri.edu is available for graduate student inquiries.