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Related Groups

APSA Related Groups are professional groups, engaged in the study of political science.  Related Groups host one or more panels at the APSA Annual Meeting. Related Groups add diversity and represent a broad spectrum of civic and political issues. If you’d like to learn more on how to become a related group, contact membership@apsanet.org

APSA members are invited to join Related Groups that align with their interests and field of study.   Related Group memberships run concurrently with APSA membership. 

APSA does not collect membership dues on behalf of Related Groups.  Joining a Related Group through APSA does not confer membership benefits to groups that collect separate member dues.  To formally join a group that collects membership dues please contact the group directly.

 

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This group is a forum for scholars, graduate students, and community leaders to study Asian Pacific American politics, broadly defined. Our primary focus is Asian Americans (East Asians, Southeast Asians, South Asians) and Pacific Islanders (such as Native Hawaiians, Samoans) living in the United States, whether they are US citizens, legal immigrants, non-permanent visa holders, or undocumented immigrants.
We study voting behavior, public opinion, political representation, racial /gender discrimination of Asian Pacific Americans, just to name a few. We conduct research at various levels—local, state, national, and transnational.

We are open to a variety of methodological approaches—historical, qualitative (interview, fieldwork), statistical, experimental, and theoretical. Although many of our members study “Asian Americans,” we do not exclude those who study the “P”—Pacific Islanders.

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The Association for Politics and the Life Sciences (APLS) is an international and interdisciplinary association of scholars, scientists, and policymakers concerned with generating, disseminating, and using evolutionary, genetic, and ecological knowledge related to political behavior, public policy and ethics.

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This association is a non-political and non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion and advancement of scholarly exchange and academic inquiry among political scientists who share a passion for Korean politics. We encourage all research related to the Korean peninsula and its role in the world. The AKPS organizes panel discussions at major academic conferences, including the American Political Science Association and the International Studies Association.

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The American Public Philosophy Institute, an independent 501(c)(3) public charity located at the University of Dallas, is an interdisciplinary group of scholars from various universities that works with business and professional leaders to promote a natural law public philosophy rooted in the principles of the American Founding, one that pursues freedom and prosperity, grounded on the moral integrity of the culture and of our social and political institutions

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The British Politics Group is a nonpartisan research association dedicated to encouraging the study of British politics and to supporting scholarly communication about British politics in the United States, across the Atlantic, and around the world. Founded in 1975 to support research on British politics in the United States, our membership now consists of faculty, graduate students, and other interested individuals in the United States, the United Kingdom, and many other countries. Activities of the BPG in support of our mission include sponsoring panels on British politics at the annual meetings of the American Political Science Association, organizing special conferences and short courses on current issues in British politics, promoting members’ research activities, and awarding competitive prizes to promote academic research on British politics. These include two prizes dedicated to new and emerging scholars in the field – the Donald E. Stokes Dissertation Research Fellowship and the James B. Christoph Prize for the Best Conference Paper on British Politics by a junior faculty member – and the Samuel H. Beer Prize, formerly our dissertation prize and soon to be reintroduced as a book prize.

Membership dues are required; membership is free for students. Please visit britishpoliticsgroup.com/membership for details

The Campaign Finance Research Group supports and advances high quality research on various topics related to campaign finance and the role of money in elections. The Campaign Finance Research Group hosts at least one panel or roundtable at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting for campaign finance scholars and practitioners to convene and share research findings and policy ideas and to forge collaborative efforts. Our membership consists of faculty, graduate students, practitioners, and others interested in campaign finance research and practice.

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The Center for the Study of Federalism is a nonpartisan, interdisciplinary research and education institution dedicated to supporting and advancing scholarship and public understanding of federal theories, principles, institutions, and processes as practical means of organizing power in free societies.

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  • Justin Litke, The Catholic University of America, litke@cua.edu

The Center studies the deeper origins of moderation, humility, compromise, and circumspection, placing special emphasis on the moral and cultural dimensions of restraint and broad views. Specifically, the Center considers how American constitutionalism, with its emphasis on limited and decentralized power, virtue, and deliberation, relates to statesmanship in foreign and domestic affairs. The Center examines the moral, political, social, and financial costs of imperial ambitions, military interventions, and nation-building. The Center for the Study of Statesmanship promotes research, teaching, and public discussion about the meaning of statesmanship and how it can defuse conflict and foster respectful foreign and domestic relations. The Center explores the sources and prerequisites of sound leadership and how to counter such influences as intemperance and blinding ideology.

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Civic Studies is an “emerging intellectual community, a field, and a discipline. Its work is to understand and strengthen civic politics, civic initiatives, civic capacity, civic society, and civic culture.” 1. Civic studies takes seriously two definitive ideals: “public spiritedness” (or “commitment to the public good”) and “the idea of the citizen as a creative agent.” 2. It is “a strategy for reorienting academic scholarship so that it addresses citizens— and learns from them in turn.” 3. “Civic studies aims to develop ideas and ways of thinking helpful to human beings in their capacity as co-creators of their worlds.” 4. ““Civic studies integrates facts, values, and strategies.”

The Related Group on Civil Society, Policy, and Power convenes scholars who study the role of nongovernmental, nonmarket organizations in politics and public policy. Civil society encompasses nonprofit organizations, quasigovernmental organizations, philanthropic donors and foundations, mutual aid associations, interest groups, social capital, formal and informal networks, social movements, and related entities. The Related Group serves civil society scholars by sharing information and resources relating to scholarly and other professional opportunities, sponsoring panels and receptions at academic meetings, serving as an intellectual and social network, and expanding the reach and impact of members’ research, teaching, and engagement.

The Committee on Viable Constitutional Democracy promotes research and dialogue on the conditions that promote durable constitutional democracy, including issues of institutional design and promotion of robust civil society. Through conferences and publications, it seeks to develop a community of scholars and practitioners interested in promotion of democratic institutions and practices.

 

The Comparative Urban Politics related group supports scholarship on urban politics, city administration, and urbanization across the world. The group advocates studying cities and their politics in comparative perspective through the use of multi-disciplinary methodological tools and theoretical perspectives.

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CONGRIPS was formally initiated on September 2, 1975, at the American Political Science Association (APSA) convention in San Francisco, California. Norman Kogan of the University of Connecticut spearheaded the effort which, in the first year, garnered 117 members. The original purpose of the organization was to encourage and support academic research and writing on current and past Italian political issues and practices. That charter was expanded in 1986 to include Italian social issues, hence the name change that year to the Conference on Italian Politics & Society (CONGRIPS ). During its first year, CONGRIP also adopted a Constitution and Bylaws . Virtually from its inception, CONGRIPS has been involved in a variety of activities intended to further the study of Italian politics. The organization has annually sponsored Italian-focused panels at APSA conventions and occasionally at meetings of other groups including: the International Political Science Association (IPSA), the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA), the U.K.’s Political Studies Association (PSA) and the Council for European Studies (Europeanists). It has organized workshops, some of which have attracted funding from the National Science Foundation and Italy’s Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. CONGRIPS has also sponsored conferences and roundtable discussions in conjunction with other groups such as the Societa’ Italiana di Scienza Politica, Stato e Mercato and the Rockefeller Foundation.In 1987, CONGRIPS facilitated the publication of Italian Politics: A Review in collaboration with the Istituto Carlo Cattaneo. The first volume’s editors included Robert Leonardi, Raffaella Nanetti and Piergiorgio Corbetta. Since then, Italian Politics has been published yearly, both in English (by Berghahn Books) and in Italian (by Il Mulino). The organization’s other publishing effort is its bi-annual Conference Group on Italian Politics & Society Newsletter. The Newsletter provides announcements, articles, book reviews and reports of the program chair. One of the strengths of CONGRIPS has been its ability to attract a core academic circle dedicated to research and writing on Italian politics and society. In addition to the NSF funding mentioned above, CONGRIPS has also received grants and other forms of support from the Faculty of Arts of McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (1987-90); from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, USA (1990-95); and from the Fondazione Agnelli, Italy (1990-92). Funds from the latter have, in part, been used for annual prizes to encourage exemplary writing in the field. Since 2006 CONGRIPS awards every other year a Lifetime Achievement Award and, on alternate years, a Best Dissertation Award in the field of Italian politics and society also in a comparative perspective. CONGRIPS enjoys the participation of members from numerous countries across Europe and North America.

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Founded in 1990, the Conference Group on Taiwan Studies (CGOTS), affiliated with the American Political Science Association, aims to promote Taiwan area studies in the mainstream political science community, to assist Chinese political scientist from Taiwan in their professional development and to facilitate the development and growth of an integrated academic community among ROC political scientists and U.S.-based scholars with a substantial research interest in Taiwan. CGOTS endeavors to promote studies on the theoretical implications of Taiwan's social, economic, political transformation and the changes and continuities of its external relations; to promote Taiwan studies as an important research area in the international academic community, and specifically as an indispensable element in any respectable curriculum on East Asia; to facilitate interaction and collaboration between political scientists in the U.S. and R.O.C.; and to assist young scholars and advanced graduate students in their career development.

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The Critical Policy Studies related group brings contemporary theoretical and methodological discussions, both normative and empirical, to bear on the understanding and analysis of public policy, at local, national and global levels. The aim is to challenge established accounts of policy-analytic methods, to explore alternative approaches to policy-making, and to promote democratic governance. The substantive focus for scholars in this related group is on the relation of political and policy theory to specific practices of governance, in particular as they pertain to democratic governance, participatory practices, social justice and general public welfare. The related group also provides space for analytical approaches that move beyond narrow empirical approaches to pay special attention to interpretive, argumentative, discursive approaches to policy-making. We aim to facilitate a variety of approaches and formats, including traditional panels, workshops, author-meets-critics and beyond. The related group has close affiliations with similar groups internationally (especially the Interpretive Policy Analysis network in Europe) and with the journal Critical Policy Studies. The related group can thus help provide leadership and a visible presence for this form of research in political science and public policy.

The Democratic Innovations (hereafter DI) group of the American Political Science Association is dedicated to the study of Democratic Innovations. Democratic Innovations refer to a wide variety of innovations in participatory governance, including citizens’ advisory panels, participatory budgeting, and new applications of digital technologies for enhancing participatory governance. Democratic Innovations can occur within civil society, social movements, the bureaucracy (through governance-driven democratization), or within the politics of electoral representation. The study of Democratic Innovations brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars working within the subfields of democratic theory, political behavior, political psychology, political sociology, comparative politics, public policy and administration, and urban and local politics. Methodological approaches to the study of Democratic Innovations tend to involve bridging normative theory with empirical political science, including both qualitative and quantitative (particularly experimental) approaches. Creating a DI group at APSA would create opportunities for interdisciplinary discussion and collaboration. The Democratic Innovations group has three main objectives. First, the DI group will promote interest and awareness of Democratic Innovations. Second, the DI group will create a space an interdisciplinary space for the exchange ideas and information related to Democratic Innovations. Finally, the DI group will encourage the cumulation of knowledge about Democratic Innovations. Developing a formal community at APSA—beginning with the DI group—would help achieve these goals by allowing scholars working on Democratic Innovations to showcase their work and collaborate

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The Disasters and Crises Related Group (DCRG) brings together scholars from a broad variety of subfields within political science along with researchers from outside the discipline to foster collaboration and diffusion of ideas on disasters, mass casualty events, and crises. We have seen a great deal of research which underscores that, despite the best of efforts, much of the international and domestic aid provided to survivors of disasters is not distributed proportionally based on factors such as damage. Instead, countries that have a strong connection or interest in another country are regular contributors to aid, and often those victims with strong political connections may find themselves receiving aid before others. Further, the government’s response itself is often influenced by politics — past studies have shown how disaster declarations and the amount of aid given vary with election years and party regimes. Politics has also undermined our ability to prepare for disaster. Studies have identified a number of disincentives to disaster preparedness, including electoral concerns and a fairly pervasive, cultural aversion toward making long term public sector investments. Politicians need to deliver tangible goods and services to their constituents every election cycle. Unfortunately, because preparedness effectively aims to ready for events that have yet to occur, it’s often difficult to sell these types of programs to constituents, despite the fact that these types of policies can save both live and money. Indeed, scholars have shown elected officials receive a higher vote share for disaster relief than preparedness spending. In short, politics and disasters are inextricably linked.

The purpose of the Related Group is to promote the study and practice of environmental politics and theory.

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The Global Forum of Chinese Political Scientists was founded in 1999 in response to the greater need for understanding the rise of China. Its main missions are:
-To strengthen the field of political science and China studies within the Chinese communities of the Chinese Mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and those in the US, Europe, and other regions.
-To utilize the knowledge of political science and apply it to the reality of greater China and China’s relations with the external world.
-To establish and strengthen professional networks throughout the world.
-To organize international conferences on China with partners in Asia and beyond.
-To sponsor panels related to China studies for the annual conference of American Political Science Association. The Global Forum of Chinese Political Scientists has sponsored panels at APSA since 1993 (under the name “Conference Group on China Studies” between 1993-1999).

The Iberian Politics Related Group advances scholarship and current research on politics in Spain and Portugal in a broader comparative context. It supports a network of scholars interested in furthering the understanding of a broad range of issues in Iberian politics and encourages methodological pluralism.

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The Indigenous Studies Network serves as a home for scholars studying Native Americans, First Nations and other indigenous groups and organizations as well as their political, policy and legal interaction with indigenous and non-indigenous groups and governments. The ISN is especially important as Indigenous studies crosses multiple subfields within political science including federalism/intergovernmental relations, comparative politics, public policy, public administration, political theory, international relations, and law, among others.

The purpose of the Intelligence Studies Related Group is to provide those who study intelligence, participated in intelligence activities as professionals, and who wish to learn more intelligence an opportunity to interact at the annual APSA conference through attending panels and roundtable discussions.

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Interpretive Methodologies and Methods (IMM) provides a forum for the discussion of methodologies and methods related to empirical interpretive research, as well as issues arising from their location within contemporary political science. Interpretive methodologies and methods are informed by philosophical traditions such as hermeneutics, phenomenology, pragmatism, symbolic interaction, and critical theory. Notwithstanding their differences, these traditions presuppose that the meaningfulness and historical contingency of human life sets the social realm apart from the natural and physical worlds, when it comes to research. Although diverse in their modes of generating and analyzing data, research processes in the interpretive tradition are typically characterized by an empirical and normative prioritizing of the lived experience of people in research settings, including the documentary and visual tracings and heritage of these (what Clifford Geertz referred to as “experience-near” research), a focus on the meaning(s) of acts, events, interactions, language, and physical artifacts to multiple stakeholders, and a sensitivity to the historically contingent, often contested character of such meanings. Activities of IMM include offering short courses, putting together panels, and sponsoring the methods café at annual APSA meetings; naming early-career spotlight scholars; and organizing four award competitions: the Hayward Alker Student Paper Award, the Charles Taylor Book Award, the Grain of Sand Award, and the Lee Ann Fujii Award for Innovation in the Interpretive Study of Political Violence.

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To bring together scholars with an interest in Japanese politics and give them a chance to meet one another and share research and teaching strategies.

APSA Labor Politics promotes scholarship on labor-related issues and policy-relevant labor research to the public at large. We seek to connect diverse scholars, from a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches, across the political science subfields.

The Latino Caucus in Political Science, also known as El Sector Latino de Ciencia Politica, was established to both promote and protect the professional development and well-being of Latina/os in political science and those interested in the study of Latina/o Politics. Founded on September 4, 1998 at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA), the Latino Caucus is an officially recognized Related Group of the APSA. The five elected officers are responsible for informing and involving the general membership regarding all matters related to the mission of the Caucus.The Latino Caucus represents all Latina/o persons connected with the discipline of political science and those directly interested in the purposes of the Latino Caucus. We are an inclusive organization that invites scholars, faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students from the discipline. The Latino Caucus is responsible for a number of different activities intended to encourage the retention, promotion, and recruitment of Latina/os in political science. This includes a sponsored panel of presentations each year at the Annual Meeting, periodic short courses or workshops, but also the awarding of several APSA awards. Each year, the Caucus awards The Fund for Latino Scholarship and Latino Book Prize. The Caucus is also an excellent opportunity for members to network and meet other Latina/o scholars across the country.

The Law and Political Process Study Group was formed in the 1980s by two law professors and a political scientist to promote communication and mutual support among members of both disciplines interested in legal and policy questions related to American election procedures. The group’s primary activity has been to sponsor or co-sponsor panels at the annual meetings of the American Political Science Association.
The group’s growth has coincided with the growth of election law as a curricular subject in law schools and the structuring of electoral institutions as a research subject in political science. Many of the most prominent scholars in the field in both disciplines have appeared on the group’s panels, as well as scholars in economics and other related disciplines, and “practitioners,” whether in government, journalism, or electoral politics.
Although the group does not define its subject matter rigidly, the topics most commonly addressed on its panels have been campaign finance, redistricting, voting rights, political parties, and political corruption. Papers include analyses of legal and policy aspects of such issues, as well as empirical studies related to them.
The group’s most direct purpose has been to promote research in the areas of interest by providing an interdisciplinary forum for the presentation and criticism of such research. An indirect but equally important purpose has been to build communication networks among scholars in different disciplines but with common interests.

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Excutive Council:

Founded in 1987, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Caucus (LGBTQ Caucus) is the principal association of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people and allies within the American Political Science Association and an important arena for the presentation of research on sexual and gender diversity studies in political science and related disciplines. Members of the caucus come from the United States, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, and several nations of the European Union. All academically affiliated social scientists, practitioner political scientists, and graduate students interested in the goals of the caucus are welcome to join. The purposes of this organization are:

A. To promote and facilitate the study of sexual and gender diversity studies in political science and related disciplines.
B. To combat discrimination against and provide support for LGBTQ faculty, students, and professionals in political science departments, as well as in society.
C. To encourage the application of the skills of political scientists to the promotion of equal opportunities for LGBTQ people.
D. To promote and facilitate the development of methods conducive to LGBTQ study of sexual and gender diversity.
E. To promote the recruitment of new members who identify as LGBTQ or are allies, with particular attention to groups that are historically underrepresented in the academy.

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Founded in 1991, the non-partisan McConnell Center at the University of Louisville has three core principles-: leadership, scholarship, and service. The purpose of the McConnell Center Related Group is to facilitate scholarship on the topic of leadership from an often-ignored perspective: the history of political thought. By inviting scholars to reflect upon the history, enduring principles, and inspiring examples of political leadership in our past, we hope to further the effort of scholars to study and teach a generation of leaders devoted to serving their community.

The purpose is as follows: To study medieval political thought, its lineage as well as its transmission both in European as well as comparative contexts.

The Political Forecasting Group is an interdisciplinary organization comprised of persons who wish to forecast various forms of political phenomena. The objectives of the Group are to: promote interest in forecasting political phenomena, disseminate knowledge of techniques appropriate for forecasting political occurrences, encourage the use of forecasting as a means of testing the validity of theories of politics, provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and information related to political forecasting, encourage the cumulation of knowledge in the various applications of political forecasting gained from prior research and practitioners’ experiences, and encourage the application of forecasting to political activity, including participation in elections and campaigns.

The Project on the American Constitution studies issues related to American constitutional law and theory. The Project sponsors panels and roundtables at the annual meeting, and it brings together scholars from the various areas of political science as well as from related disciplines.

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Publius: The Journal of Federalism is the world's leading journal devoted to federalism. Publius is an international journal that publishes research on U.S. federalism as well as federal systems throughout the world. Publius is particularly interested in promoting research on federalism theory and practice; the dynamics of federal systems; intergovernmental relations and administration; regional, state and provincial governance; and comparative federalism.

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The Society for Greek Political Thought is an interdisciplinary organization devoted to the study of classical political thinking in all of its forms: The Society promotes the study of ancient Greek philosophy, drama, poetry, history, and other works on politics and morals. The Society especially encourages the study of the Socratic revolution in political and moral thought that looks beyond cultural and ethnic traditions to discover what is just and what is good in light of lasting standards that are, in principle, accessible to all human beings. In addition, the Society welcomes scholarship on ancient Roman, medieval Islamic, and early modern thinkers, among others, who adopted, revised, or vigorously contested elements of classical Greek political thought. Ever since the Society began offering panels at the APSA in the 1970’s, we have been making a place for studying classical political thought in a contemporary political science that is shaped by modern science. The Society has enabled students, new faculty, and established scholars from a wide range of fields and schools of thought to engage in substantive dialogue about political questions. We seek diversity and inclusivity in the truest sense. While we give voice to a way of thinking about politics that is otherwise lost in the modern/ postmodern age, we do not understand our mission to be the uncritical celebration of ancient Greek political thinking. We believe that inclusive debates about the validity, use, and misuse of the classical tradition are necessary and healthy. The Society for Greek Political Thought believes that we play an important role in exploring what classical political thought truly says and in debating whether it offers us valid insights into contemporary political and moral questions.

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The Southeast Asian Politics Related Group brings together the growing community of APSA members whose work engages politics in the region of Southeast Asia. The community has grown significantly in size over the last decade. More importantly, it includes a substantial proportion of emerging scholars who are completing graduate training or in early phases of their academic careers. Consequently, a major objective of the Related Group is to support the professional advancement of these emerging scholars through mentorship, community engagement, and recognition.

Founded in 1972, by leading members of the American Political Science Association, as the Walter Bagehot Research Council on National Sovereignty, and now known as the Walter Bagehot Research Council on National Politics and Sovereignty, we are a long-standing Related Group of APSA that emphasizes the values of a just and humane polity, with special attention to the principles of American and British political institutions; promoting the enduring value of the rule of law and constitutionalism; addressing the core elements of a sound national security policy; and engaging in a range of pressing and sometimes intense debates on matters of public interest. As a society composed of intellectuals, professors, scholars, community leaders, and students, the Walter Bagehot Research Council convenes meetings of scholars and professionals working in these areas, encourages and supports research in these fields, and cultivates future leaders committed to the serious study of the themes engaged by the Council.

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The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) related group provides political scientists the opportunity to participate in, engage with, and become part of the larger, ongoing discussion of communism’s ideology, history, and legacy. The subject of communism was not rendered obsolete by the fall of the Berlin Wall. By presenting a variety of scholarly viewpoints on topics such as socialism, communism, Marxism, Maoism, Leninism, Stalinism, ethnicities, cultural identities, and ideologies, among others, this group treats subjects directly relevant to fully one-fifth of the world’s population. As such, the VOC related group provides political scientists the opportunity to discuss the impact and ideology of one of the most important regime types still operating throughout the world.