Associate Professor
919-962-6383
iunah@email.unc.edu
Curriculum Vitae
308 Hamilton Hall
Office Hours: Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:30 to 11 a.m.
Books | C.V. | Honors Students
Isaac Unah, Associate Professor of Political Science, earned his B.S. in economics and management science from SUNY-Cortland (1989), and both his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from SUNY-Stony Brook in 1992 and 1995 respectively. His research and teaching interests focus on judicial institutions and their collective influence on public policy and bureaucratic behavior. His research has been published in several political science, law, and interdisciplinary social science journals, including the American Journal of Political Science, Political Research Quarterly, Law & Policy, Business and Politics, Social Sciences, and several major law reviews. His first book, The Courts of International Trade: Judicial Specialization, Expertise, and Bureaucratic Policymaking (University of Michigan Press, 1998), examines the role of specialized courts in U.S. trade policy implementation. His second book, The Supreme Court in American Politics (Palgrave-Macmillan, 2009) uses an evolutionary perspective to give readers a firm understanding of the U.S. Supreme Court. Among his ongoing projects, Unah is researching punishment politics, especially the political motivations underlying the use of capital punishment in the United States. His research (with Jack Boger) was the principal basis of the North Carolina Racial Justice Act (enacted in 2009). Finally, from 2005—2007 Unah served as visiting scientist and program director for the Law and Social Sciences Program in the Division of Social and Economic Sciences at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia.