about The Politics Lab:
The Politics Lab is a podcast designed to help make sense of the political world around us. American culture is saturated by news coverage, much of which comes in the form of pundits and partisans talking past each other. We want to push past the partisan discourse and take a deeper look at the political dynamics that affect the United States and the world as a whole. We believe the field of political science has a lot to offer and can help us better understand how politics works. The Politics Lab hopes to bridge the gap between political science research and media coverage of current events in order to provide tools for people to understand the larger political world around us. We decided to name the podcast The Politics Lab because we want to dissect things, put them under a microscope, experiment with different ideas, and maybe learn a few things along the way. We don’t have all the answers, but the process of investigation brings us joy. We hope it’s useful to others as well.
Bill (left) and Phil (right), long long ago, at their Ph.D. graduation ceremony
about the hosts:
Bill and Phil met on their first day of graduate school at the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1999 and they’ve been best friends ever since. They have collaborated on multiple conference presentations and co-authored research that has been published in the journals, PS: Political Science & Politics and Politics and Religion. Their initial foray into podcasting came in 2016 with the podcast, Barstool Politics. That podcast was a weekly effort to try to break down the political news while enjoying a cold beer.
about Bill:
Bill Muck is a professor of political science at North Central College located in Naperville, Illinois. He teaches a variety of courses on international politics and foreign policy. His scholarship focuses on international security, the practice of military intervention, and the pedagogy of promoting civic engagement. He has been active in presenting research at various international studies conferences around the world. In 2018, Bill was named a Ruge Fellow by North Central College for his contributions to teaching and learning on campus. He is co-author of the book, Technology and Civic Engagement in the College Classroom as well as other articles on international security and higher education pedagogy. If you are in the Chicago area you may have seen Bill on the WGN Evening News offering political analysis. On the non-academic front Bill likes to make homemade pasta and reports that people find his pasta much more palatable than his research.
about Phil:
Phil Barker is a professor of political science and director of the honors program at Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire. He previously taught at Austin College in Texas and Centenary College in Louisiana. He teaches courses on international relations and comparative politics, and his research focuses on the role of religion in national identity and conflict. He is the author of Religious Nationalism in Modern Europe, as well as a number of articles. He was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Malta in 2015. Growing up in Texas, Phil met George H.W. Bush a number of times and visited the Reagan Oval Office and has been fascinated with politics ever since. As a resident of New Hampshire, he has an incredible opportunity to meet with and host presidential candidates throughout the election cycle. In his spare time, he does perfectly normal things like playing the banjo and smoking a pipe.
