hendrix professor's passion for arkansas politics shines

With bookshelves packed floor to ceiling and walls lined with campaign memorabilia and political icons, his small, windowed office could pass for a miniature museum of Southern state politics.

And, at first glance, Jay Barth, 38, could easily be mistaken for a shy college student.

But Barth, associate professor and chair of the politics department at Hendrix College, is one of the state's leading academic authorities on Arkansas politics.

Indeed, his passion for politics goes back to childhood, growing up in a family of Democrats "who get frustrated with its own party a lot of times," and standing at the Saline County courthouse at the biennial candidate "speaking" the night before polls opened. Both of his grandparents were involved in civic government, serving on various city commissions, a water commission here, a parks commission there.

"I was around politics a lot as a kid," he said. "Something got put into me, clearly. It wasn't overtly put into me. But it made me realize it could be fun and, more important, it could make people's lives better."

Barth's place among scholars of the state's political landscape is sure to be cemented this spring, with the release of the second edition of "Arkansas Politics and Government," which he co-authored with the late Diane Blair, a University of Arkansas political science professor, who originally published the book in 1988.

The book was well received throughout the 1990s, particularly as the Clinton presidency drew interest to the state's political climate.

Blair began pondering revisions to the book in early 2000, but when she was diagnosed with cancer that March, she asked Barth to join her as a co-author.

Barth first knew of Blair through her son, Bill Kincaid, who, along with Barth, worked as a counselor at Arkansas Governor's School in the summer of 1986.

After graduating from Hendrix in 1987, Barth left the state to work on his doctorate at the University of North Carolina. When he decided his primary work would be in Southern politics, he introduced himself to Blair and the two stayed in touch.

In January 1994, Barth came back to Hendrix to teach in the politics department.

"When I came back to the state, Diane moved into retirement phase, doing some political work and other activities. She very consciously began to bring me into some projects," Barth explained. "She definitely played a mentor role in terms of me becoming an analyst of Arkansas politics and introduced me to a network of scholars of Southern state politics."

Before the Arkansas politics book, the two co-authored a number of chapters for other texts on state party organization, Southern politics in the 1990s, and presidential politics in the South.

Those collaborative projects, Barth thinks, are what gave Blair faith in his ability as a co-author.

"We wrote together well and analyzed Arkansas politics in similar ways," Barth said.

One of the challenges of collaborative writing, Barth said, is the presence of different writer's voices, making it difficult for two writers to each write half a book or chapter and put it together without an obvious shift in voice. "We, by some good fortune, wrote in very similar voices," he said.

Though Blair passed away before the book was completed, Barth insists it is still very much a collaborative work in many ways.

"The basic structure of the book worked well. There was no need to overhaul that," he said.

But since the book was first published, the state has seen monumental changes in the organization of state politics, in the restructuring of the state courts and state legislature, the two-term presidency of a native Arkansan, the Lake View school funding decision, the demise of two ideologically different state newspapers and demographic changes, such as the entrance of Latinos in Northwest Arkansas.

"It's definitely Diane's framework and my take on state politics within that framework," Barth said.

And Barth's take is different than Blair's.

"I think her book reads as a pretty optimistic book. My book is less optimistic," he said.

The difference in optimism is more of a reflection of the two eras in which the editions were written, Barth said. The passing of those 15 to 17 years leads to a slightly less optimistic view of the state's politics, he insists.

The introduction of term limits created major problems with the state's ability to be responsive to rapid economic, social and political change, Barth said.

"With term limits, you clearly create speed bumps. Term limits have been a real cataclysmic structural impediment. It's hard for the state to respond with amateurishness in the legislature."

"As I became more of a student of politics, it's frustrating it hasn't always been a force for making people's lives better. That mystery is what has continued to drive me and my interest in politics in this state," he said.

"There's a tremendous amount of promise in the South, but I think the politics of the region has been a barrier to living up to that potential."

"I also have faith in the system, if people stay engaged and involved."

Being involved in the political process is something he wants his students to learn.

"What I hope students come to see is it's a system with a lot of promise but it requires a tremendous engagement for that system to be as engaged as it needs to be," he said.

Barth is teaching his first formal Arkansas politics course this semester. Actually, two courses, a traditional seminar course with lecture and readings and a practicum course, where students spend 10 to 12 hours a week with some entity involved in the legislative process.

"It's experiential learning, matching theory to practice," Barth explained.

Half of the students are working with an interest group, such as the Arkansas Public Policy Panel and the State Chamber of Commerce. Other students are working with entities such as the state attorney general's office and the KUAR radio legislative reporter.

The hands-on learning is starting to inform the classroom learning, Barth said.

"It's been great to see the way those experiences are bleeding back into the seminar course," he said. "It raises the great question, 'Is what is written about state's politics really what is practiced on a daily basis?'"

Barth is no stranger to learning hands-on the political process. In 2000, he spent a year in Washington, D.C., as a congressional fellow for the American Political Science Association, where he worked with the late Sen. Paul Wellstone on education and civil rights issues.

"That year of service did make me realize how important it is to be involved," he said. "I definitely came back realizing I need to be involved."

Now, Barth serves on the board of directors for the National Council on Community and Justice and is a national board representative for the American Civil Liberties Union.

"I think we all have a duty to serve in whatever way makes sense and matches our talents," he said. "I see myself as a teacher of politics and that happens in a lot of ways."

Outside of the classroom, Barth contributes political commentary to radio, television and press throughout the state. The media, he said, allow scholars "to contribute to broader debate."

Barth is also co-currating an exhibit on Arkansas Politics in the 20th century with Arkansas Times writer Ernie Dumas. The exhibit is set to open in 2007 at the Old State House Museum and there may be a book to connect with that exhibit. The book, he hopes, will "more consciously delve into the color and excitement of Arkansas politics."

He's also working on another collaborative writing about the role of radio advertising in politics.

Hendrix allows him the freedom to be a generalist and indulge his interest in a wide range of political topics, including gender and race, he said.

"It's a good scholarly environment. There isn't pressure to publish on a daily basis. That's fun because life gets boring doing the same thing year in and year out."

Arkansas Politics and Government will be officially released in April. A book signing is planned Saturday, April 9, at Wordsworth Books in Little Rock and Saturday, April 16, at Hendrix. Barth is also slated to appear at the Arkansas Literary Festival in Little Rock on Sunday, April 17.

(Staff Writer Rob O'Connor can be reached at rob.oconnor@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1240.)