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Jocelyn M. Boryczka, Fairfield University, jboryczka@mail.fairfield.edu

Politics in Motion: Change and Complexity in the Contemporary Era," the 2009 APSA conference theme, is one well-suited to the New Political Science Section, founded in a commitment to progressive political change. Motion suggests a progression or movement forward involving ideas of change laden with assumptions about what is "new" and progressive in politics and political science. The New Political Science section is calling for individual papers and panel proposals that interrogate these assumptions about progress, change, and the "new" given the real and perceived complexities of the contemporary political context. Papers and panels that explore this topic by identifying systems of domination and the ways in which people collectively struggle within and against them on the global, national, and grassroots levels are particularly welcome.

The section encourages papers and panel proposals that consider various questions broadly related to what complexity means to political change. How does the perception of complexity contribute to a politics of fatigue that can stagnate political movement? How are complex identities negotiated in efforts for social change? What do these negotiations mean for transforming democracy and capitalism? What "new" and different ways are diverse peoples across the globe mobilizing amidst the complicating forces of globalization and democratization? How do forces of tradition motivate and stagnate struggles for progressive political change committed to non-violence and social justice?

To consider such questions and many others, the section is particularly interested in perspectives that challenge disciplinary and academic boundaries. The section welcomes papers and panel proposals drawing from a broad range of theoretical and empirical approaches, using alternative methodologies, and bringing together junior and senior scholars, activists, and practitioners.