Charles U. Zug is Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Truman School of Government and Public Affairs and Assistant Professor of Constitutional Democracy in the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy. He received his PhD in Government from the University of Texas at Austin. 

Broadly, Charles is interested in how constitutions structure politics and how politics generates constitutional authority. He is also interested in American political development (APD), the study of how political authority is constructed historically. Charles is a multi-methods scholar and uses a variety of approaches (including interpretive work, archival research, interviews, and normative analysis) to pursue substantive, theoretically-compelling questions.

Charles is the author of two books, Demagogues in American Politics (Oxford University Press, 2022) and Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Federal Highway Act (University Press of Kansas, 2024). His third book, The Mythology of American Federalism, is under contract at Oxford University Press. He is also co-editor of Beyond Checks and Balances: The Political Purpose of the Separation of Powers (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2026). In addition to essays, book chapters, and political commentary, Charles has authored peer-reviewed articles in journals including Political Research Quarterly, Political Science Quarterly, Journal of Law and Courts, Presidential Studies Quarterly, and American Political Thought. His work has been discussed in The New York Times, The Free Press, and other national publications and venues.

Students interested in pursuing graduate work in political science at Mizzou are welcome to email Charles directly.