Clyde Wilcox

Clyde Wilcox is a political scientist and professor of government at Georgetown University, where he has taught since 1987. On 1 June 2026, he became acting dean of Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q), having previously served as interim dean from 2021 to 2022.

Wilcox's research and teaching address religion and politics, gender politics, interest groups, public opinion and electoral behavior, campaign finance, and the relationship between science fiction and politics. He has published more than 30 books as an author, co-author, editor, or co-editor.

Education and early career

Wilcox received a Bachelor of Arts degree from West Virginia University in 1975, and a master's degree and PhD in political science from Ohio State University in 1980 and 1984, respectively.

Academic career

Wilcox joined Georgetown University's Department of Government in 1987. He has spent all or part of each academic year at the Doha campus since 2014. That year, he also received a Distinguished Alumnus Award from West Virginia University.

In 2025, Wilcox and political scientist Jocelyne Cesari were the joint recipients of the Susanne Hoeber Rudolph Outstanding Scholar Award from the Religion and Politics section of the American Political Science Association.

Selected publications

God's Warriors: The Christian Right in Twentieth-Century America (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992) Between Two Absolutes: Public Opinion and the Politics of Abortion (with Elizabeth Adell Cook and Ted G. Jelen, Westview Press, 1992) Public Attitudes Toward Church and State (with Ted G. Jelen, M. E. Sharpe, 1995) Serious Money: Fundraising and Contributing in Presidential Nomination Campaigns (with Clifford W. Brown Jr. and Lynda W. Powell, Cambridge University Press, 1995) Onward Christian Soldiers? The Religious Right in American Politics (first published by Westview Press in 1996; fourth edition with Carin Robinson, 2010) Political Science Fiction (co-editor, University of South Carolina Press, 1997) The Changing Politics of Gun Control (co-editor, Rowman & Littlefield, 1998) Religion and Politics in Comparative Perspective: The One, the Few, and the Many (co-editor, Cambridge University Press, 2002) Interest Groups in American Campaigns: The New Face of Electioneering (with Mark J. Rozell and David Madland, second edition, CQ Press, 2006) Understanding Public Opinion (co-editor, third edition, CQ Press, 2009) Federalism: A Very Short Introduction (with Mark J. Rozell, Oxford University Press, 2019)