Joseph A. Pika is the James R. Soles professor emeritus of political science and internationalrelations at the University of Delaware. He holds a Ph D from the Universityof Wisconsin and taught previously at SUNY at Buffalo. He is coauthor with Jason D.Mycoff of Conflict & Compromise: Presidential and Congressional Leadership, 2001–2006 and coauthor with John Anthony Maltese and H. Phillips Shively of American Democracy in Context. He served for seven years on the Delaware State Board of Education, four years as president.