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Elizabeth A. Bennion, Indiana University South Bend, ebennion@iusb.edu

This section invites proposals that address how well political science curricula and instruction prepare students to participate in the process of democratic representation and renewal.  The section is particularly interested in questions that address the following questions:

What knowledge, skills, and dispositions must students have to pursue lives as active citizens, community leaders, and/or political officials? How can the political science classroom prepare students for civic leadership and for engaged citizenry that strengthens the representation link between voters and elected officials? How can political science educators encourage critical thinking about political systems, encouraging healthy skepticism rather than apathy, reform rather than withdrawn disillusionment? How can we teach people to translate citizens’ collective aspirations into effective public initiatives? Do our students understand the consequences of how they choose to frame and pursue political agendas – both for specific policy outcomes and the long-term health of democracy?  What role does teaching play in the renewal of cities, economies, institutions, and relationships between the governed and those who govern?

How can we help our students understand the evolution of longstanding democracies, including declining confidence in public institutions? How can we help our students understand emerging democratic transitions in Africa and the Middle East? How can we best address questions regarding the political representation of racial, ethnic, caste, religious, and linguistic minorities in the United States and in other nations, particularly in homogeneous classrooms? What role do diverse people and nations play in setting national and international policy priorities (in specific countries, for the IMF, NATO, or the UN)? What lessons regarding political principles, institutions, mass behavior, and elite behavior are necessary to help students to participate in renewing representative democracy? To what extent should we assume that this is a valid goal? 

Are our students adequately prepared to address these questions – through political discussion, civil society, mass movements, traditional political channels or legal processes? Are we, as instructors adequately prepared to address these issues with our students?

In short, how well does our discipline prepare students for their role as national and/or global citizens – by teaching substantive knowledge that increases their understanding of political processes and institutions, by cultivating civic identities that promote their political participation, or by teaching civic skills that enable them to wield influence?

In keeping with the mission of the section, we entertain a wide range of topics for papers and panels, including but not limited to innovations in curriculum design, classroom teaching, instructional technology, experiential learning, undergraduate research, advising, administration and assessment.  The Political Science Education section is strongly committed to honoring the diversity of institutions with which ASPA members are associated, and we welcome submissions from political scientists at community colleges and two-year institutions, as well as from four-year colleges and universities.