Political Science and Public Administration

M.A., J.D., Ph.D. 

A.K. Shauku began his career in U.S. Army Intelligence, collecting intelligence on North Korea in support of National Security Agency objectives and serving as a translator/liaison between the U.S. and South Korean militaries. He is a graduate of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, the U.S. Army Signals Intelligence School, and was awarded the Army Good Conduct Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korea Defense Service Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, and other awards for his service.

Dr. Shauku holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Alabama, with subfield specialization in American Politics, Public Policy & Administration, and Comparative Politics; a JD from the University of Alabama School of Law, with experience in Family Court Mediation; and a dual BA in Economics and Philosophy from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

He is the co-author of Resolve to Solve, a conflict resolution training manual published by the Birmingham Bar Foundation to train local attorneys to go into high schools with high rates of physical violence and help students resolve their differences peacefully.

Dr. Shauku’s teaching and research interests are broad and varied. He teaches courses related to law & courts, American politics, comparative politics, and public policy & administration. He writes and speaks on American government, institutional theory, federal courts, alternative dispute resolution, rhetoric & race relations, and U.S.-North Korea policy.

His current research is a book project on the decentralized structure of the U.S. federal judiciary, with an empirical focus on the causes and consequences of intercircuit conflict, i.e., regional variation in federal appellate court rulings. The project tracks appellate court conflicts in several domains of American law—search and seizure, securities, labor, and employment discrimination—and examines the costs and benefits of regional variation.

Visit Dr. Shauku's website to view his Ted Talk and learn about his latest scholarship.