Dr. Chapman Rackaway: A Political Professor With Purpose

Dr. Chapman Rackaway is a Chair and Professor of the Political Science Department at UWG. He teaches classes in Political Parties, Political Campaign Management, Interest Groups and Lobbying and Campaign Finance.

Having published ten academic journal articles, thirteen book chapters, and six books Rackaway has been interested in politics from the beginning. He grew up with a father who was a newspaper editor and publisher, and a mother who was intensely interested in politics.

Rackaway’s interests focus on a combination of republican democracy and professional electioneering. He is the author of Civic Failure and its Threat to American Democracy: Operator Error (Lexington Press 2016), co-editor of Parties Under Pressure (Palgrave 2017), along with books on American politics, political communication and voting behavior.

“I became involved with political campaigns when I became a teenager, which provoked my interests in political parties and campaigns,” said Rackaway.

Rackaway continued working on political campaigns, but his fate changed when he was connected to a congressional candidate at the University of Missouri. After becoming his teaching assistant, Rackaway discovered his passion for teaching and soon writing.

“The more I was in grad school, the more I noticed people teaching and writing,” said Rackaway. “Everything came together at once, especially upon graduating with my Ph.D. from the University of Missouri in 2002.”

Upon graduating, Rackaway continued his research in what a democratic society consists of, which initiated his first book, American Government. Three editions later, Rackaway has authored a total of six books.

During his graduate studies, Rackaway noted that Samuel Popkins, author of The Reasoning Voter, is who inspired him to begin writing and publishing. The book explained information deeper than the surface value, specifically low-information rationality.

“This is essentially when people take whatever information is easily available to them and try to make sense of it, to follow their own instincts,” Rackaway said. “It still inspires me to this day.”

Racakaway, along with qualified field experts and fellow academic professors are now working together on publishing a book.

“There’s no greater laboratory to look at how things can change in a presidency than Donald Trump’s presidency,” said Rackaway. “The book will focus on how President Trump has a different mindset, from an analytical perspective.”

“Is he changing a trend in how the presidency operates?” The Unorthodox Presidency of Donald Trump, coming in January 2020. The book will entice details of Donald Trump’s current presidency, his mindset during office, and the analytics behind it.