9/12/2006 -  Revised 8/20/2007

 

Draft Minutes of the

Joint Business Meeting of the

APSA Section #27 New Political Science

And the

Caucus for a New Political Science

September 1, 2006

Philadelphia, PA

 

Welcome by Co-Chairs Christine Kelly and Alethia Jones:

·         Christine welcomed new members and visitors

·         38 people in attendance

·         Announced the winners of the Caucus 2006 awards : Christian Bay Award for the best paper presented on a New Political Science panel to Immanuel Ness; Michael Harrington Award for an outstanding book to Odd Arne Westad; the Charles A. McCoy Career Achievement Award to Carl Boggs; and the Richard Cloward & Frances Fox Piven Award for an activist group in the host city to the Women’s Community Revitalization Project

·         Christine urged everyone to attend the Caucus Plenary at 8:30 Saturday evening. The awards will be presented – and the keynote address will be given by Representative John Conyers. A champagne reception will follow.

Reports: Chairs’ Report

·         Alethia presented a report from the APSA meeting for section officers on Thursday morning (also attended by Sec/Treas. Meredith Reid Sarkees). APSA has created a committee to conduct a 10 year review of APSA and the annual meetings. A survey will be sent soliciting comments and recommendations. Several topics of investigation will be the formula for allocating meeting panels; including participation by more people from non-Ph.D. departments; and the fear that the increasing number of sections that include journals with dues may make section membership s decline.

·                     The next IPSA meeting is in Chile in 2009. Anyone interested in attending and/or cooperating with other APSA sections can contact John Berg.

Membership Coordinator Report by Jennifer Disney.

  • The Section currently has 500 members, with the increase partially due to a membership drive. The section dues are now $20 per year – and $5 for students. Membership in the section now includes a subscription to the journal New Political Science. There has been some concern about people not getting the issues of the journal, but that is being ironed out.
  • Michael Forman is the administrator of the Caucus listserv. The list will be used to notify members about Caucus business and to conduct votes on Caucus matters. Section Members will have to subscribe to the list. Michael will send an e-mail to all section members asking them to subscribe to the list.
  • Christine also sent thanks to Bruce Wright who manages the Section website. He now has the ability to include pictures – and so anyone who has Caucus pictures, please send them to Bruce.

Program Chair 2006 Report – Bill Niemi

  • APSA originally allocated 9 panels to New Political Science
  • With co-sponsorships, Bill was able to increase that to 11: 1 with the APSA Labor Project, 2 with Foundations of Political Theory, and 1 with Urban Politics
  • Bill received 93 paper proposals and 23 panel proposals – so he had to reject a large number of worthy proposals.

Governance – Christine

  • The Coordinating Council met prior to the Business meeting (chaired by Alethia). The major topic of discussion was the need to clarify the differences between the APSA Section and the Caucus for a New Political Science. A Committee to be chaired by Clyde Barrow will be working on updating or revising the by-laws for both the section and the Caucus.

Treasurer’s Report –

  • Meredith distributed copies of the financial statements for both the APSA New Political Science Section and the Caucus for a New Political Science.
  • The financial status of the Caucus is particularly good, total assets are $29,077.94 (including the reserve). The financial situation is due to the journal and the relationship with Routledge.
  • The section revenues have increased dramatically due to the new section dues of $20 (which include a subscription to the journal New Political Science). This will be offset later this year by an expense when we have to pay Routledge for the journals.
  • Meredith met with Rebecca Webb from Routledge, and they have developed a procedure that should send the back issues of the journal to members relatively soon.
  • Meredith mentioned that the Caucus might want to consider editorial assistance for Joe.

Journal Report – Joe’s Peschek’s injury prevented him from attending this meeting and presenting a journal report.

  • Book Review’s Editor, Mark Mattern, thanked everyone who has written reviews. He sees this as a good way for individuals to become involved in the journal.
  • Rebecca Webb from Routledge presented the highlights of her New Political Science journal report. The journal is doing well. Institutional subscriptions have held steady. We expect individual subscriptions to decline with the new dues plan – but that will be more than offset by the subscriptions to section members. Routledge has started “bundling” journals with similar themes for libraries – which should also increase subscriptions.
  • Michael Forman brought up the topic of the book series – which seems to be languishing. The “Troika” of the Caucus Chair, the Journal Editor, and the Book Series Editor need to work to plan for its future.

Election of the 2008 Program Chair

  • Clyde Barrow was nominated by Christine to be the 2008 Program Chair. Seconded by Laura Katz Olson. He was elected by acclimation.

New Business

  • The Labor Project: Inmex Resolution: Partially due to the efforts of Margaret Levi, the 2006 APSA was moved from San Francisco to Philadelphia due to the possibility of a labor strike. APSA is not necessarily concerned with fair labor issues, but with wanting to avoid unrest. Yet – even such reticence is encouraging many hotels to re-evaluate their labor stances – the hotels and unions have just settled in Chicago and New York City. Therefore, in the long term – the interests of the workers and convention groups are together.
  • Inmex is a collection of groups that want to work together to avoid labor disputes. They would like APSA to be part of it.
  • A motion to have the New Political Science section write a letter to encourage APSA to join Inmex passed unanimously.
  • An APSA Member – scheduled to be on a panel was stopped at the Canadian border and denied entry into the US because of his anarchist views. The Section voted unanimously to urge APSA to support an inquiry into this situation,

 

Respectfully submitted, Sec/Treas. Meredith Reid Sarkees