The New Political Science section held its annual business meeting at 6:00 pm September 2^nd,  2005 at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association with Carl Swidorski,  Section Secretary-Treasurer, presiding.

Carl Swidorski announced that Manfred Steger, section chair, wanted to communicate his regrets that he was unable to attend the meeting because he had assumed a new position in MelbourneAustralia.  Manfred also wanted Carl to extend his thanks to all members of the section, especially those individuals who had worked with him on various projects over the past two years and had been so supportive.  Manfred had asked Carl to preside over the business meeting in his absence..  Carl announced that he would like to deal with items on the agenda that required decisions by the members first and reserve various reports for the latter part of the meeting.

The minutes of the 2004 business meeting, circulated by Carl Swidorski the previous Fall, were unanimously approved.

Election of Officers

           The following individuals were elected as officers, all unanimously.  All officers will serve two-year terms with the exception of the 2007 Program Chair who serves a one-year term.

            Co-Chairs:                  Christine Kelly, William Paterson University

                                                Alethia Jones, The University at Albany

            Secretary-Treasurer    Meredith Reid Sarkees, St. Mary’s College

            Caucus representative to the executive committee of the journal:

                                                Laura Olson, Lehigh University

                                                Michael Forman, University of Washington, Tacoma

            2007 Program Chair: R. Claire Snyder, George Mason University

Membership Journal/ Subscription Proposal

            John Berg reported on his charge, last year, from the Executive Committee of the journal, New Political Science, to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of including a subscription to the journal in our membership dues.  After extensive inquiries, John reported back to Wednesday evening’s (August 31^st, 2005) meeting of the Executive Committee that he was recommending supporting the plan for two primary reasons.

             First, it would help the Caucus.  In the last few years, other sections (Women and Politics, State Parties and Policy, and Political Methodology) which had adopted similar plans had reported that their membership had increased after the change.  Under the proposal, Richard Delahunty, our liaison with the journal’s publisher Taylor and Francis, offered to cut the membership subscription rate from $32 to $15 for regular members and to make student member subscriptions free.  Thus, total section dues would be $20 for regular members and $5 for student members.  John also reported that our present membership was over 400, a healthy margin over the 250 required by APSA.  John also had spoken to Michael Brintnall, Executive Director of APSA, about the issue of a transition period and was assured that APSA would give us a few years to regain any losses should the section fall below the required level of 250.  However, given the attractiveness of the offer, including the student discount; the experience of other sections; and our healthy membership level, John did not think this was a likely scenario.

            Second, John stated the change would be good for the journal because there would be a large increase in circulation with a corresponding jump in the journal’s reputation, the extent to which it was cited, and the impact of its ideas.  The journal also would be come more attractive as a source for publishing articles.  Furthermore, the change would improve our already strong relationship with Carfax, which had been asking us to consider such a move for several years.

            The plan would work in the following fashion.  Dues would be set at $20 with APSA keeping $3 and sending the remaining $17 to the Caucus Treasurer once each quarter, along with a list of those who had joined.  The Caucus Treasurer would send this list and $15 per person to Carfax.  Since subscriptions to New Political Science are on a calendar year basis, everyone joining during a given year would get a subscription for the next year.

            Finally, John reported that the Executive Committee of the journal had approved the proposal at its Wednesday meeting with the understanding that the plan should be assessed on a yearly basis, especially to see its effect on membership in the section.

            Discussion followed.  Most individuals spoke in favor of the plan for reasons related to those John Berg had presented.  Those opposing the plan were primarily concerned with its potential effects on both general membership and student membership.  The plans was approved with only one vote in opposition and three abstentions.

Reports         

Report on the Labor Project

            Christine Kelly and Gordon Lafer reported on the success of the Labor Project initiated at last year’s APSA meeting with support from APSA President Margaret Levi and the Caucus.  This year the Labor Project was involved with sponsoring seven panels, including a theme panel.  Christine and Gordon also asked the members to endorse two labor resolutions (attached).  The first called upon APSA to adopt, as part of its standing rules, a policy of union preference in negotiating hotel and service contracts for the Annual Meeting and for any other meeting organized by the Association.  This resolution was passed unanimously and will be forwarded to APSA.  The second resolution dealt with graduate student organizing rights following the decision by New York University to not renegotiate with its graduate teachers’ union.  The resolution asked for the Section’s endorsement of the positions that it does not support NYU’s decision; that it recommend that the NYU administration immediately agree to bargain with its graduate teachers’ union; and that it supports the rights of graduate employees at all universities to form unions.  A discussion followed about the implications of the second endorsements, given APSA’s policy of section’s not endorsing “political” positions.  However, the members decided that given the mission of the Caucus, they would endorse the resolution and forward it to APSA..

Report of the Secretary-Treasurer (Attached)

            Carl Swidorski distributed copies of the 2004-2005 financial report.  The sections’s ending balance as of June 30, 2005 was $3189.20.  Expenses for the year were $4125.30 while income totaled $2770.00.  Expenses associated with the annual plenary were more extensive due to special funding of two panel participants and costs associated with the plenary speaker.  However, the Executive Committee of the journal had appropriated $2000.00 for the Section for the year and therefore the treasury remained in sound shape.  The executive Committee also decided to appropriate $1000.00 for the Section for the coming fiscal year.  Finally, Carl reported that the Executive Committee had decided to fund the Piven and Cloward award at the level of $1000.00 for the coming year.         

New Political Science Journal Report

            Joe Peschek reported that the journal was doing well.  He introduced Richard Delahunty, our representative from Taylor and Francis, and indicated that Richard would be willing to answer any questions that members might have.  Joe reported that our reviews editor, Mark Mattern, had reassumed his responsibilities as thanked Sheila Collins for her work over the past year in filling in for Mark.  Joe stated that he and the book review editor, George Katsiaficas, had several positive meetings with publishers about the book series and that, at this point, the prospects for renewing our contract with Taylor and Francis looked good.  Finally, Joe announced that he had been re-elected for a second three year term at the Executive Committee meeting and was planning on continuing his general approach of the past three years.  He asked members to please submit manuscripts and their recently published books for review.

Report of 2005 Program Chair

            Bradley Macdonald reported his enthusiasm for this year’s program.  As has been the custom in past years, he was successful in arranging co-sponsored panels with other sections of APSA.  We had fourteen panels; four were co-sponsored (two with Women and Politics and two with History of Political Thought).  The criteria emphasized in selecting panel proposals was whether the panels reflected the goals and ideals of the Section.  

Report of 2006 Program Chair

            William Niemi stated that the call for papers for next years APSA meeting was in this year’s program.  He urged all members to consider proposing a paper and panel and he hoped to continue the success of the past several years in putting together a program that combined the study of politics with the section’s goal of promoting progressive politics in the “real” world.  He also wanted a program reflecting these interests from a variety of contemporary perspectives representing the diverse membership of the section.     

            Carl encouraged people to attend the plenary talk by Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies and Director of Middle East Studies at Columbia on Saturday at 8:30 pm.   The title of his talk would be “Resurrecting Empire.”  The plenary would be followed by a reception at 10:00.  Carl also announced that the section’s awards would be given out at the plenary preceding Professor Khalidi’s talk.  This year’s honorees were: Stephen Bronner, the Charles A. McCoy career achievement award; Kathleen Van Wezel Stone, the Michael Harrington book award; Hamideh Sedghi, the Christian Bay best paper award; and the Institute of Policy Studies, the Cloward and Piven activist organization award. 

The meeting adjourned at 7:15 PM..

Respectfully submitted,

Carl Swidorski

Secretary/Treasurer

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