Petition Agent Statement

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2007 Council Elections

Petition Agent Statement

APSA Nominating Committee Statement (2007)

Petition Agent Statement
Gregory J. Kasza, Electoral Agent for Catherine Zuckert

Catherine Zuckert is running for APSA Council as a staunch advocate of methodological pluralism and democracy in the profession. She boasts an exceptional record of scholarly achievement and service. In her field of political philosophy, Catherine has published three books, 25 book chapters, and 24 refereed articles. Before accepting her current post as editor-in-chief of The Review of Politics, she had served on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Political Science, Polity, PS, Interpretation, College Teaching, and Polis. Catherine has many years of teaching experience at a liberal arts college as well as a research university, so that she has dealt with the issues that arise in diverse institutional settings. Catherine Zuckert is an outstanding candidate for Council.

Perestroika has made considerable progress towards re-legitimizing qualitative research in political science, but much remains to be done if qualitative work is to achieve parity in hiring and promotion decisions, in the graduate curriculum, in the editorial policies of association journals, and in the governance of APSA. Competitive elections are an important means to further reform.

Over several decades, quantitative research and formal theory became dominant trends in the discipline without a public debate. The election of APSA’s officers should give political scientists an opportunity to discuss such matters, but ordinarily it does not. We challenge the official slate for the APSA Council not to protest the particular choices of the nominating committee, but to challenge the system of appointments itself. APSA is alone among major American academic associations in its failure to select its ruling council through regular competitive elections. It is embarrassing that an association devoted to the study of politics in a democratic country should not trust its membership to choose its officers. In addition to being undemocratic, the lack of competitive elections robs members of an opportunity to engage in a robust discussion of the many issues that confront the profession.

Catherine Zuckert’s scholarship exemplifies the methodological pluralism that Perestroika espouses, and she is a strong supporter of competitive elections. Please join the 145 signatories who have endorsed Catherine’s candidacy and give her your vote for the APSA Council.