PROPOSED BY-LAWS, 
SECTION ON DOMESTIC SOURCES OF FOREIGN POLICY
AMERICAN POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION

PREAMBLE:

The Section on Domestic Sources of Foreign Policy of the American Political Science Association exists to promote research on and the teaching of foreign policy. The Section is particularly interested in work that builds bridges between American politics, comparative politics and international relations. The Section is also very interested in the interchange of ideas between people interested in this subject within the Association, other academic disciplines, and the relevant practitioners both in governmental and nongovernmental organizations.

ARTICLE I: MEMBERSHIP

SECTION 1:

Membership in the Section on Domestic Sources of Foreign Policy is open to all members and associate members of the American Political Science Association who indicate an interest by paying annual Section dues to the Association.

SECTION 2:

Business meetings of the membership will be held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association. An announcement of the meeting will be included in the printed program distributed by the Association.

SECTION 3:

Annual section dues will be established at the Annual Business Meeting of the Section and will continue in effect until changed by a majority vote of a subsequent Business Meeting. The amount of dues will be recommended to the Annual Business Meeting by the Executive Committee.

ARTICLE II. OFFICERS

SECTION 1:

The Section will be governed by an Executive Committee of seven Section members. The members of the Executive Committee will select a Chairperson-elect (to serve as Chairperson the following year) and a Secretary-Treasurer from among themselves.

SECTION 2: The duties and responsibilities of the officers are as follows:

A. The Chairperson will designate a Section Pr o gram Chair to organize panels for the annual meeting of the Association; appoint thr ee-member award committees for each kind of award offered by the section; represe nt the section as requested by the Executive Committee in dealings with regional associations or organiztions in other disciplines; schedule and preside at the Annual Business Meeting and meetings of the Executive Committee; serve as liaison between the section and the APSA; and otherwise undertake such actions as requested by the Executive Committee or required in the interests of the section.

B. The Chairperson-elect will assist and advise the Chairperson in all the responsibilities assigned to that office. The Chairperson-elect will preside over Executive Committee meetings and the Annual Business Meeting in the absence of the Chairperson and will succeed to the office of Chairperson in the event of an unscheduled vacancy.

C. The Secretary-Treasurer is responsible for submitting an annual report to the Executive Director of the Association and for keeping minutes of meetings of the Section and the Executive Committee.

D. The Executive Committee will advise section of ficers on the conduct of their duties, propose amendments to the by-laws, make recom mendations to the Annual Business Meeting, audit and approve the annual report to the Association, a nd interpret these by-laws. Except when the office of Chairperson is filled as described above, the Executive Committee will fill vacancies in its own membership until the next regularly-scheduled election.

SECTION 3:

Nominations and elections for the Executive Committee will be conducted at the Annual Business Meeting under the following provisions:

A . The Executive Committee will be elected to t wo year terms with three being elected each year by secret ballot of the Section members attending the meeting and by absentee ballots submitted to the Chairperson before the Convention. Any Section member named on an absentee ballot will be considered a nominee for the Executive Committee.

B. Each Section member is entitled to vote for a maximum of thr ee candidates and the top three vote-getters will be deemed elected. In the event of tie votes that would affect the composition of the Committee, section member s attending the meeting will take another ballot among the tied nominees. Each member is entitled to cast as many votes as there are vacancies remaining to be filled. The vacancies will be filled by the top vote-getters on the runoff ballot. The members of the Executive Committee will serve until the subsequent election.

C. The outgoing Executive Committee may, at its discretion, offer a slate of nominees for Committee membership and/or endorse nominees for the Committee.

ARTICLE III. BY-LAWS

SECTION 1:

Amendments and modifications of the by-laws may be proposed at the Annual Business Meeting. If amendments are approved at that time by a majority vote, they will be submitted for approval to the Section membership on a mail ballot distributed as soon as possible following the Annual Meeting. Amendments require support from two-thirds of the members who return mail ballots.

SECTION 2:

These by-laws will become effective upon approval by two-thirds of the members attending the Annual Business Meeting.