A Look at the Centennial Center for Political Science & Public Affairs

Professor Isis Leslie is an interdisciplinary scholar who draws on film studies, history, and literature to examine questions of social justice. Some of her special interests include globalization, the intersections of racial politics and political theory, comparative political thought, human rights—their definition and abuses, and the relationships between psychoanalysis and politics.

The relationship between social science and policymaking, marked with “tension and ambiguity,” is one that scholars never ceased to be perplexed about (Anderson 2003). My research seeks to shed light on the interaction between the two by comparing how the “think tank model of expertise,” first developed in the U.S., is being emulated in the EU and in France where the political systems and the structures of social knowledge traditionally called for a different use of social science research. By looking at the comparative evolution of the think tank model I also wish to question the building of the expert as a modern figure that bridges a discursive regimen of “knowledge claim” used in the scientific world and a regimen of “truth-claim” consistent with political discourses (Veitl 2005; Leclerc 2001). Scrutinizing the activities of think tanks as a place where “experts” claim to inform and influence policymakers is, in that sense, a way to revisit and rethink the relations between power and knowledge (Ihl 2006).

In an effort to increase graduate student participation in the Annual Meeting, the Association awarded 75 Advanced Graduate Student Travel Grants for the 2008 meeting in Boston. The names and institutional affiliations of the winners follow.

Here's a preview of some of the articles that will be published in the January 2009 issue of PS: Political Science and Politics:

Founded in 1953, the APSA Congressional Fellowship Program is the nation's oldest and most prestigious congressional fellowship. More than 50 years later, the program remains devoted to its original objective of expanding knowledge and awareness of Congress.

One manual for lobbyists in Congress warns those new to the trade that “winning the confidence of staff—and maintaining it thereafter—is a prerequisite to an ongoing, successful political relationship with any political office (Wolpe 1990).” The author then details the organization and loyalties among personal and committee staffs. One thing staffers have in common is that each specializes in an issue area and thus develops expertise over the issue, the players and politics of the committee, the legislative process, the interest groups, and the constituencies involved with the legislation (Wolpe 1990). Despite the wide-ranging literature on interest group activity in Congress, few distinctions are made between the efforts of lobbyists to influence staff, or ways in which the staff-interest group relationship varies in different types of offices.

APSA is pleased to announce a call for applications from U.S.-based APSA members interested in organizing a team of leaders for a three-week political science workshop, scheduled to take place in Accra, Ghana, in the summer of 2009. Supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the 2009 Accra workshop is part of an ongoing three-year effort to organize annual residential political science workshops in Africa. The workshop will bring together up to 30 scholars and cover substantive issues, methodologies, and reviews of research. To learn about the 2009 workshop application process, visit: http://www.apsanet.org/~africaworkshops/content_56295.cfm. The deadline for applications is October 24.

Of the many vital functions that political parties serve in American democracy, selecting candidates for public office is near the top of the list. Giovanni Sartori (1976) cites this purpose as their chief defining element—claiming that, at a minimum, a party is a “political group that presents at elections, and is capable of placing through elections, candidates for public office” (64). Moreover, understanding how parties vet, groom, select, and promote candidates is central to empirically evaluating the strength of political party organizations, the quality of elected policymakers, and ultimately the effectiveness of government. For scholars of American politics, this has led to fruitful lines of research on the processes that the Democratic and Republican Parties use to select their candidates—namely the conventions, primaries, and caucuses that nominate individuals for various federal, state, and local offices. For example, many have investigated the effects of reforms to the presidential nomination process in the early 1970s (Aldrich 1993; Hagen and Mayer 2000; Reiter 1985; Wayne 2000), some arguing that it took power of choosing candidates away from the party organizations and towards other institutions like the press, interest groups, and small ideological factions (Polsby 1983) with potentially negative consequences for governance.

After five years of discussions and extensions, Congress has passed and the president has signed the first reauthorization of the Higher Education Act (HEA) since 1998. Although most of the HEA deals with federal student aid, the legislation also includes many federal programs affecting colleges and universities, including support for international education and foreign language studies and graduate education. The new law also has a number of provisions reflecting some of the policy controversies affecting higher education.

In addition to awards conferred at the Association's Award Ceremony on Thursday, August 28, the following recognitions are being made at the business meetings and receptions of APSA's Organized Sections.

Global levels of inequality today are at extremely high levels even as conditions for alleviating deprivation are more favorable than ever before. Inequities in the international system and within developing countries threaten to halt progress toward greater democratization and economic development for the poorest countries in the world.

This executive director's report provides a status report on the Association, an update on programs and activities, and reflections on some issues facing APSA for the future. The basic indicators for the APSA remain strong.

I am pleased to report that our Association's financial condition remains healthy, providing a resource base sufficient to continue current operations, while expanding the Association's activities in new directions as needed. Since our last annual report, we have seen our endowment and real estate holdings grow in value to about $32.1 million (June 2007), against which we are carrying just $1.6 million in mortgage debt. For the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2008, we estimate that total operating income ($4.8 million) was slightly above budget, with expenditures below. Our broad membership base continues to be the most important reason for our healthy financial condition, while the annual meeting and APSA publications also provide substantial income. In short, we are in the enviable position of enjoying stable membership, while holding substantial income- and growth-producing assets with minimal long-term liabilities. All of these factors combine to produce an operating budget that hews closely to anticipated income and expenses, year after year.

The APSA Workshop on Political Participation was convened in Dakar, Senegal, from July 6–27 and is the first of three annual residential workshops APSA will be organizing in Africa from 2008–2010. The workshop series is generously supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and is a key part of increasing APSA efforts to support the development of applied research networks linking U.S.-based scholars with colleagues overseas and supporting political science communities outside the United States. All sessions took place at the facilities of the West African Research Center (WARC), and APSA collaborated closely with WARC to manage the workshop. APSA staffer Helena Saele spent the month of July in Dakar overseeing all related administrative and logistical matters and providing direct support to workshop leaders and participants.

The APSA Africa Initiative brought diverse group of about 25 scholars to Dakar to discuss research on political participation. Our working language was French. All participants were interested in some aspect of party politics or political participation. The conference-length research papers or research proposals that participants worked on over the course of our three-week workshop centered on questions about the weakness of opposition parties in some countries, the improbable strength of the opposition in others, regional patterns of party mobilization and voting, the role of traditional authorities in voter mobilization, the role of teacher and student unions in politics, political mobilization outside the party system (as in motions de soutien for ruling parties), the role of the press in shaping political preferences, women's movements and party politics, civil society and election monitoring, historical legacies that shape political culture, and the possible impact of ethnic identity on regional patterns of political behavior. There was plenty to talk about. The participants appreciated the four-tome reading packet of articles and book chapters that we prepared for the workshop and used as the launching point of our seminar and break-out group discussions.

Taking part in the APSA workshop in Dakar was an enriching experience for my understanding of comparative politics. My research is focused on Latin America and my experience with African politics before the workshop was limited. Even if I would not dare call myself an expert in Africa after just one month in Senegal, I would like to discuss a difference and a similarity between these regions that I found surprising. The workshop reminded me of the title of Wim Wender's movie Far Away, So Close.

APSA International Membership by Country.

Upcoming international events.

Call for papers for the 2009 APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition in Toronto, ON, Canada, September 3–6, 2009.