2024 Related Group Calls

Related Group Chair(s): Dukhong Kim, Florida Atlantic University, dkim4@fau.edu; Nicole Filler, University of Massachusetts at Boston, nicole.filler@umb.edu

Call for papers, APAC 2024

The Asian and Pacific American Caucus (APAC) welcomes proposals on all aspects of Asian Pacific American (APA) political life and experiences. Proposals related to the 2024 conference theme “Democracy: Retrenchment, Renovation, and Reimagination” are particularly welcome.

In line with the general theme of the conference, we welcome research proposals that address a variety of questions related to the theme. The following examples are given to suggest potential research questions. Do Asian Pacific Americans experience and perceive the retrenchment of democracy (e.g., attempts to restrict voting rights and access)? If they do, which subgroups of APA members are more likely to experience the retrenchment of democracy? What is the possible impact of retrenchment of democracy on Asian Pacific Americans’ belief in democracy, their various policy choices, and/or their participation? Under what conditions are APAs more likely to engage (or are less likely) in renovative (e.g., modifying institutions and devising ways to deliberate and make decisions at different levels of government organizations) and reimaginative activities (e.g., collective actions as a group and as coalition partners to address the problems) in facing retrenchment of democracy?

In addition to these theme-related proposals, as we have done in the past, we always welcome paper proposals on regular topics (e.g., the role of gender, sexuality, class, generational differences, group consciousness, or experiences of discrimination in accounting for APAs’ political behaviors, and the ways that APAs interact with institutional conditions) on APAs at national, state, local, and even neighborhood levels; from elite to mass levels; and in historical and contemporary perspectives. Although we have “P” (Pacific) in our group name, we rarely receive proposals regarding Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders; so we particularly welcome such proposals. Finally, analyses of transnational politics—for example, the relationship between U.S.-based APAs and their homelands, and comparisons between APAs and other countries (such as Canada and Australia)–are also welcome. Please note, however, that APAC is a group that primarily focuses on APAs within the U.S. If you have a proposal focused mainly on Asian countries, please consider sending it to other sections.

Related Group Chair(s): Jordan Mansell, McMaster University, mansellj@mcmaster.ca; Aleks Ksiazkiewicz, Urbana-Champaigne, aleksks@illinois.edu

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

Today APLS recognizes the immense social and political implications wrought by revolutionary changes in biology. Ongoing developments in genetics, cognitive neuroscience, and evolutionary theory are having a huge impact on government decisions as well as the methods of political analysis. Today public policy decisions ranging from healthcare and environmental policies to the “”war on terrorism”” require input from the life sciences.

APLS welcomes all those interested in exploring the intersection between politics and the life sciences. This includes not only those who hope to further advance research and teaching in these vital areas, but also those engaged with related public policies.

Related Group Chair(s): Byunghwan Son, George Mason University, bson3@gmu.edu

The Association of Korean Political Studies (AKPS) welcomes submissions for its panels at the 2024 APSA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia (PA), September 5 through 8. We invite individual papers or panel proposals from any subfield in political science, including international relations and comparative politics. Papers may apply any theoretical or empirical approach to the study of Korea-related questions. The conference theme is “Democracy: Retrenchment, Renovation, and Reimagination.” Proposals may directly engage with this theme or not; but they should present a clear and compelling linkage between the paper and Korean politics, broadly defined. In keeping with APSA’s goals of increasing diversity, inclusion, and access throughout the profession, AKPS welcomes diversity of approach and interdisciplinarity from a wide-ranging collection of researchers. Graduate students and junior scholars are strongly encouraged to submit a proposal. For more information about AKPS, visit www.akps.org.

Related Group Chair(s): Matt Beech, University of Hull, m.beech@hull.ac.uk

The British Politics Group welcomes proposals for papers, panels, roundtables and other innovative formats on any topic related to British politics for the 2024 APSA Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We are open to proposals that focus on the United Kingdom as a case study as well as those that provide comparative perspectives on British politics, regardless of methodological approach. Proposals may wish to consider the theme for the 2024 APSA Annual Meeting, “Democracy: Retrenchment, Renovation, and Reimagination,” which invites participants to reflect on “the perils and promises of the democratic project over time: how to understand backsliding, defining and meeting threats, renovating institutions and practices, and imagining new ones.” Proposals might address, for example, change and continuity in representative institutions in the United Kingdom; the media landscape in the UK; or innovative democratic practices in local and regional politics.

In line with APSA’s diversity statement, we welcome submissions from scholars from diverse backgrounds, and especially invite submissions from junior scholars or those new to the group. Note that all proposals must go through the APSA on-line process and must be submitted by the regular APSA deadline. Please follow APSA guidelines for submissions, e.g., paper proposals will need an abstract of the paper and full contact details for the presenter(s); panel proposals will need panelist names, paper titles, and abstracts. Please also note that all presenters including co-authors must be dues-paying members of the BPG in order to appear on the program (presenters may join the BPG after acceptance to the conference). Information about the British Politics Group, including membership information, may be found at britishpoliticsgroup.com. Additional questions may be addressed to the Program Chair, Dr. Matt Beech, at m.beech@hull.ac.uk or BPG Executive Director, Dr. Janet Laible, at jml6@lehigh.edu.

Related Group Chair(s): Bruce Larson, Gettysburg College, blarson@gettysburg.edu; Jaclyn Kettler, Boise State University, jaclynkettler@boisestate.edu

Campaign Finance Research Group Call for Papers, APSA 2024:
The conference theme for APSA 2024 is “Retrenchment, Renovation, and Re-imagination of Democracy.” The connections between democracy and campaign finance are myriad. At the electoral level, campaign money helps shape the choice of candidates and parties voters face at the ballot box. Between elections, campaign contributions and expenditures allow political elites to use their wealth to influence political discourse, shape the policy agenda, and alter policy outcomes in ways that can distort democratic political representation. Money can also be used to shape the rules of the democratic playing field itself, as illustrated by Jane Meyer’s 2021 account of dark money groups underwriting efforts to push vote fraud claims and tighten voting restrictions at the U.S. state level. At a broader level, campaign finance can condition the relationship between democracy and economic equality. In particular, while scholars have long posited that democracies tend to flourish under conditions of greater economic equality, many campaign finance systems permit economic elites to use their resources to advance policies that concentrate wealth at the top—undercutting the very conditions that sustain a robust democratic order. Such dynamics have the potential to generate an inequality trap (Kelly 2019), in which economic power produces political power, which in turn generates even greater economic gains at the top.

The Campaign Finance Research Group welcomes paper proposals that explore the direct and indirect links between campaign finance and democracy as well as other topics related to money and politics. As always, we encourage proposals across a diverse range of methodological approaches and from a diverse group of scholars—particularly from those from groups underrepresented in the profession.

Related Group Chair(s): Troy Smith, Brigham Young University at Hawaii, troy.smith@byuh.edu

The Center for the Study of Federalism (CSF) at the Robert B. and Helen S. Meyner Center for the Study of State and Local Government, Lafayette College, invites proposals that involve new research directions in federalism, including the work of young scholars. Founded by Daniel Elazar, CSF has long been interested in the ways federalism is adapted to fit local cultures, circumstances, interests, and institutions; how federalism influences public discourse and civic participation; and how federalism changes over time. Papers might consider federalism’s influence from city governance to tribal sovereignty, from differing state responses to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) to state attorney generals’ efforts to limit or extend federal influence, and from how civic engagement in the federal system is understood, taught, and practiced in an era of nationalization.

Related Group Chair(s): Justin Litke, The Catholic University of America, litke@cua.edu

CSS is eager to entertain proposals dealing with statesmanship within the halls of government and welcomes lesser represented perspectives within the profession of political science, especially those with a sensitivity to the link between history, institutions, and political theory.

Related Group Chair(s): Peter Levine, Tufts University, peter.levine@tufts.edu; Trygve Throntveit, Minnesota Humanities Council, throntv@gmail.com

The Civic Studies Related Group invites proposals for panels, round tables, and individual papers that make a significant contribution to the civic studies field; articulate a civic studies perspective on some important issue; or contribute to theoretical, empirical, or practical debates in civic studies. We especially encourage proposals that emphasize actual or potential civic responses to current social and political crises, their origins, and possible consequences. Civic studies is a field defined by diversity yet connected by participants’ commitments to promoting interdisciplinary research, theory, and practice in support of civic renewal: the strengthening of civic (i.e., citizen-powered and citizen-empowering) politics, initiatives, institutions, and culture. Its concern is not with citizenship understood as legal membership in a particular polity, but with guiding civic ideals and a practical ethos embraced by individuals loyal to, empowered by, and invested in the communities they form and re-form together. Its goal is to promote these ideals through improved institutional designs, enhanced public deliberation, new and improved forms of public work among citizens, or clearer and more imaginative political theory. The civic studies framework adopted in 2007 (https://tischcollege.tufts.edu/civic-studies/summer-institute/framing-statement) cites two ideals for the emerging discipline: “public spiritedness” (or “commitment to the public good”) and “the idea of the citizen as a creative agent.” Civic studies is an intellectual community that takes these two ideals seriously. Although new, it draws from several important strands of ongoing research and theory, including the work of Elinor and Vincent Ostrom and the Bloomington School, of Juergen Habermas and critical social theory, Brent Flyvbjerg and social science as phronesis, and more diffuse traditions such as philosophical pragmatism, Gandhian nonviolence, the African American Freedom Struggle. It supports work on deliberative democracy, on public work, on civic engagement and community organizing, among others.

Related Group Chair(s): Catherine Herrold, Syracuse University, ceherrol@syr.edu; Margaret Post, Clark University, mpost@clarku.edu

The APSA Related Group on Civil Society, Policy, and Power invites proposals concerning the nongovernmental actors and spaces that shape politics and policymaking in the US and around the world. This universe includes policy advocacy organizations, trade and professional associations, unions, nonprofit service providers, grassroots groups, think tanks, grantmaking institutions, individual donors, and informal networks of social capital.

Reflecting the conference theme, we are especially interested in papers that address relationships between civil society and democracy. Such work might address civil society’s role in democratic transitions, democratic consolidation, democratic maintenance, and re-imagining the meanings and manifestations of democracy.

We welcome submissions that address civil society and democracy in local, regional, national, and international contexts and encourage work that addresses the topic from international and comparative perspectives.

Papers need not directly engage the conference theme; we welcome the full range of original contributions. We invite interdisciplinary work and empirical studies from methodological traditions, as well as works of political theory, from scholars who represent the diversity of the profession (including by rank, subfield, identity, and perspective).

We are interested in work using original data sources and diverse methods to bring civil society organizations into the study of political institutions and processes. Proposals might focus on how non-governmental actors have shaped policy agendas, political dynamics, and state-building historically and at present. Alternatively, proposals might focus on how the state has shaped the size, power, activities, and scope of the non-governmental sphere. Research that views civil society in comparative perspective is especially relevant, as is research focusing on peoples and places that mainstream political science has neglected.

We encourage paper submissions and organized panel submissions. Panel submissions must include at least four papers, a panel chair, and a discussant. Where appropriate, the program co-chairs may add papers to these panels. We ask that all members submitting proposals also volunteer to serve either as panel chairs or as discussants. Because the conference includes new presentation formats, we encourage proposals for one of these new formats. Please also submit proposals to a second APSA division/group so that we have the opportunity to co-sponsor panels.

Related Group Chair(s): Jeffrey Paller, University of San Francisco, jpaller@usfca.edu

Cities are at the forefront of global transformation, as the convergence of a global pandemic, deepening political polarization, and mass organized protests demanding social justice and systemic change usher in a new era for more than seven billion people. The city is the site of intense change, where residents are rethinking, restructuring, and reconnecting with others. While reimagining the future, people across the world navigate inherited legacies of inequality and hierarchy. Cities are forced to rethink their design, transport systems, governance apparatuses, workplaces, and public spaces. But cities have been here before, and lessons from the past offer insights into the world’s future. What is the future of cities? How can past experiences of urbanization inform patterns of urban growth today? How can the study of cities inform new forms of politics and political science? The Comparative Urban Politics related group welcomes panel and paper proposals addressing how democracy is retrenched, renovated, or reimagined in cities. Panel proposals that include perspectives from both the developed and developing world, have broad appeal across the discipline, and draw from significant fieldwork will be favored. Since we only have one panel on the APSA program, it is advisable to submit your proposals to other Sections as well.

Related Group Chair(s): Austin Horng-En Wang, Department of Political Science, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, austin.wang@unlv.edu

The 2024 American Political Science Association (APSA) Annual Meeting will be held from September 5-8, 2024, in Philadelphia, PA. The conference theme is “Democracy: Retrenchment, Renovation, & Reimagination.” CGOTS invites paper and panel proposals on Taiwan’s domestic politics, cross-Strait issues, and international relations that are consistent with the theme of “Democracy: Retrenchment, Renovation, & Reimagination.”

Taiwan is scheduled to hold its next presidential and legislative elections in 2024, with an estimated twenty million voters expected to cast their votes on Election Day. The increasing number of non-partisans and the shifting partisan alignments indicate both the changes and continuities within this vibrant democracy. These trends provide an opportunity to explore and advance our understanding of democracy through the lens of comparative politics. The introduction and integration of AI in 2023 have the potential to reform political communication during the campaign. Additionally, the election results will have implications for the ongoing US-China-Taiwan relationships and the global economy.

CGOTS welcomes scholars to address a range of topics within the context of the 2024 general election. These topics include, but are not limited to, the following: the impacts of polarization on Taiwan’s politics and democracy; the effects of US-China-Taiwan relations on Taiwan’s domestic politics and its future direction; the implications of big data and AI on Taiwan’s political landscape; strategies to reconnect a divided democratic society through democratic means; and the role of identity politics in Taiwan and beyond.

The dynamics of Taiwan’s politics also reveal the reemergence and reflection of many issues that extend beyond cross-strait relations. Notably, the large-scale #MeToo movement in mid-2023, as well as concerns surrounding house prices, misinformation, national defense, birth rates, religion, power supply, and road safety have garnered significant attention and are seeking representation through the democratic process in Taiwan. The impact of some of these issues even extends beyond Taiwan’s borders.

CGOTS welcomes proposals that employ innovative and diverse approaches to comprehensively and comparatively examine Taiwan’s politics. Our panels aim to foster reflective and critical discourse on these subject matters, with no limitations on the scope and topics covered. We aim to shed light on our understanding of Taiwan and its future within the global context while increasing Taiwan’s international visibility.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Austin Horng-En Wang (austin.wang@unlv.edu), CGOTS Coordinator. Travel support for CGOTS panelists is subject to the availability of external funding.

Related Group Chair(s): Marta Wojciechowska, King’s College London, Marta.1.wojciechowska@kcl.ac.uk

The Critical Policy APSA group welcomed proposals reflecting the 2024 APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition theme “Democracy: Retrenchment, Renovation, & Reimagination.”

Related Group Chair(s): Dan Myers, University of Minnesota, cdmyers@umn.edu; Dimitri Courant, Harvard University, dimitri.courant.phd@gmail.com

As democracy faces increasing challenges across the globe, academics, activists, and public servants have proposed a range of innovations in democratic theory and practice. These innovations are of particular relevance to this year’s theme of democratic retrenchment, renovation, and, perhaps especially, reimagination.

APSA’s Democratic Innovations Related Group invites individual paper and complete panel proposals that speak to important theoretical and empirical questions related to innovative democratic practices and institutions. Democratic Innovations refer to a wide variety of innovations in participatory governance, including but not limited to 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 Theme Statement asked: “What possibilities await further innovation and experimentation? Which of these innovations can travel across borders and cultures?” To which we add: What are the recent successes but also failures of contemporary democratic innovations? What are the main issues that new democratic processes and innovators face today? How to overcome these challenges and at what cost?

The study of Democratic Innovations is an interdisciplinary field bridging normative theory and empirical political science. As such, we welcome proposals from a range of theoretical, methodological, and epistemological approaches. We seek to create a diverse program and therefore encourages scholarship and scholars that have been historically underrepresented in political science, including but not limited to diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, nationalities, sexual orientations, and gender expressions, as well as diverse career trajectories and scholars from non-US institutions, especially those from the global South. We also encourage junior and untenured researchers to participate.

Related Group Chair(s): Jason Enia, Sam Houston State University, jason.enia@shsu.edu

The Disasters and Crises Related Group (DCRG) brings together scholars from all subfields within political science along with researchers from outside the discipline to foster collaboration and diffusion of ideas on hazards, disasters, and crises. The DCRG invites proposals for its related group panel at the 2024 American Political Science Association meeting the theme of which is “Democracy: Retrenchment, Renovation, and Reimagination.” Potential topics include how multiple actors – private firms, informal resident networks, faith-based organizations, civil society organizations, and local, regional, and national governments – collaborate (or fail to do so) during threats; the use of information before, during, and after disaster; the relationship between federalism and state capacity and its effects on disaster outcomes; institutional transformation during shocks; and the relationship between disaster and policy change. We encourage proposals using a variety of methodological approaches including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods.

We are pleased to announce the call for papers for the 2024 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association to be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (September 5-8, 2024). The Environmental Politics and Theory Related Group welcomes proposals for individual papers and panels on a wide range of environmental issues from diverse theoretical perspectives. We especially look forward to proposals that speak to the intersection between environmental politics, political theory, and the 2024 APSA theme of “Democracy: Retrenchment, Renovation, & Reimagination.” Environmental political theory and adjacent fields have long investigated the relationship between democracy and environmental sustainability. Recent debates on topics ranging from eco-democracy and eco-authoritarianism to eco-populism and geoengineering continue dwelling on the theme of democratic politics in environmental political scholarship. We invite you to explore how calls for renewing and reforming democratic institutions, invigorating democratic social movements, and radically reimagining democratic societies might help build a more environmentally just and ecologically sensitive politics. We also invite you to reflect on how best to understand historical and contemporary challenges to democracy, as well as their relationship to environmental challenges like climate change, species extinctions, habitat loss, toxicity, and environmental injustice. How is democratic retrenchment used to advance anti-environmental backlash and extractivism? In what ways might renovation and reform of democratic institutions, norms, and movements cultivate a more robust response to the climate emergency? In what ways does democracy need to be reimagined in an era of massive environmental disruption and uneven global development? Are existing democratic institutions, norms, and movements up to the challenge of addressing environmental injustice and enacting a just transition?

As always, we are thrilled to read proposals that discuss new or emerging trends in environmental political theory, as well as those that comment on the broader state and trajectory of environmental politics and theory. What prevailing assumptions, arguments, and frameworks are in need of rethinking in order for environmental scholarship and politics to move forward? In what ways might political, economic, and social systems need fundamental restructuring to address the environmental crises of our time? Moreover, might the academic disciplines that study environmental politics and theory need to be rethought and restructured as well to meet the challenges of environmental scholarship in a time of crisis? Finally, in what ways might scholars reconnect with the world of practice and political action, and how might practitioners of environmental politics reconnect with neglected constituencies, movements, and ways of thinking (including, but not limited to, indigenous and postcolonial ones)?

In keeping with APSA’s goal of increasing diversity, inclusion, and access throughout the profession, we also strongly encourage proposals from scholars who belong to historically underrepresented groups, especially those from minority racial and ethnic communities, low-income and working-class backgrounds, non-Anglophone countries, and the LGBTQ+ community, as well as graduate students independent scholars, and contingent faculty.

Related Group Chair(s): Xiaoyu Pu, University of Nevada, Reno, xpu@unr.edu; Quansheng Zhao, American University , zhao@American.edu

The Global Forum of Chinese Political Scientists (GFCPS) invites scholars to submit their contributions for consideration to its panel(s) at the 2024 annual meeting of the American Political Science Association (APSA). The overarching theme of the conference, as defined by APSA, is “Democracy: Retrenchment, Renovation, & Reimagination.” We encourage proposals for papers that employ innovative approaches and methodologies to dissect research puzzles within both China’s domestic and international contexts. We welcome a diversity of approaches and interdisciplinary perspectives from a wide array of researchers. Possible topics encompass but are not limited to: China’s intricate internal political dynamics, its evolving political economy, as well as its diverse international impacts and challenges.

Related Group Chair(s): Sebastián Royo, Clark University, sroyo@clarku.edu

Democracy’s Status in Iberia: From Retrenchment to Reimagination?

This panel focuses on the status of democracy in Portugal and Spain. After decades of progress, over the last decade we have seen instances of retrenchment and regression driven by social and political inequalities; corruption; economic challenges that have undermined the capacity of our democracies to deliver on needs and expectations; or the raise of populists who have leveraged victories and the local, regional and national level to undermine democratic institutions. At the same time, Portuguese and Spanish democracies have shown remarkable resilience and the ability to adapt and address many of these issues, while experimenting at the local, regional and national levels to meet these new challenges.
This panel looks for papers that will deal with those issues and address questions such as: Has there been democratic backsliding in Portugal and/or Spain? What are the threats and opportunities? Have institutions adapted and/or being renovated? What are the institutional and policy innovations that have been adopted to deepen the Iberian democracies?
We welcome diversity of approach and interdisciplinarity from a wide-ranging collection of researchers.

Related Group Chair(s): Burke Hendrix, Univ of Oregon, bhendrix@uoregon.edu; Rick Witmer, Creighton University, witmer@creighton.edu

The themes of this year’s conference are retrenchment, renovation, and reimagination – all familiar topics to those working in the area of Indigenous politics. Given long-standing patterns of state failure and unpredictability, Indigenous peoples in North America and elsewhere have been forced to adapt over and over again to changing legal and social environments. We invite papers on all areas of Indigenous politics understood as a global phenomenon, with special interests for this year’s conference in Indigenous responses to changing policy conditions. We welcome papers from scholars at all ranks and kinds of institutions (including tribal colleges), as well as from practitioners with connections to academia. Indigenous politics remains a deeply understudied aspect of Political Science, and we welcome papers that help to build a deeper understanding of current state policies, Indigenous responses to them, and possible future trajectories.

Related Group Chair(s): Andrew Macpherson, University of New Hampshire, andrew.macpherson@unh.edu; Manolis Priniotakis, National Intelligence University, manolis.r.priniotakis@odni.gov

Democracies continually face security challenges both externally and internally. As the current war in Europe demonstrated democratic countries intelligence services played a critical role supporting Ukraine prior to and following the Russian attacks. Domestically, many democracies intelligence services face criticism from political leaders who feel they have been politized by their opponents. The APSA Intelligence Studies Group encourages authors to submit papers addressing national security intelligence around the theme of democratic retrenchment, renovation, and reimagination. As democracies change, renewing and revitalizing some activities with new ideas and regressing in other areas, are intelligence organizations seeing corresponding changes? The APSA intelligence studies section seeks scholarship including, but not limited to, original research, definitional and operationalization issues, theory development, case studies, and research methodologies based upon diverse interdisciplinary, epistemological, and methodological perspectives and approaches. The submitted papers may be incorporated into any session type.

Related Group Chair(s): Lisel Hintz, Johns Hopkins University, lhintz1@jhu.edu

The Interpretive Methodologies and Methods (IMM) related group calls for paper, panel, and roundtable proposals that explore interpretive methodological issues or that apply interpretive methods (e.g., political ethnography, grounded theory, discourse analysis) in ways that demonstrate their “comparative advantage” for empirical research across all subfields of political science. Especially welcome are proposals that reflect on how political science itself is situated in the webs of meaning and historical context that it studies. Interested presenters may contact the 2024 IMM program chair, Lisel Hintz at lhintz1@jhu.edu.

About IMM:

The Interpretive Methodologies and Methods related group provides a forum for the discussion of methodological and methods issues related to interpretive research, as well as issues arising from their position within contemporary political and other social sciences. Interpretive methodologies and methods are informed by philosophical traditions such as hermeneutics, phenomenology, pragmatism, and symbolic interaction. Notwithstanding their differences, these traditions presuppose that the meaningfulness and historical contingency of human life differentiates the social realm from the natural one, with implications for how research is conducted. Although diverse in their modes of identifying or 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; a focus on the meaning(s) of acts, events, interactions, language, and physical artifacts to multiple stakeholders; and a sensitivity to the historically- and/or situationally-contingent, often-contested character of such meanings.

Related Group Chair(s): Kenneth Mori McElwain, University of Tokyo, mcelwain@iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp; Kristin Vekasi, University of Maine, kristin.vekasi@maine.edu

Over the last decade, natural disasters, geopolitical uncertainties, demographic challenges, and growing socioeconomic inequalities have steadily eroded Japanese confidence in formal and informal institutions. The Liberal Democratic Party’s electoral dominance also continues to raise questions—fairly or unfairly—about the nature of democratic competition in Japan. These are themes in line with the APSA 2024 Theme of “Democracy: Retrenchment, Renovation, and Reimagination”.

For the APSA 2024 meeting, we invite scholars in all areas of the discipline to investigate questions related to perceived and actual changes in the quality of Japanese democracy. We welcome research that looks at government actions and public reactions to domestic and international pressures, including (but not limited to):
 Analysis of recent elections and its aftermath, including voter behavior, electoral strategy, and party realignment.
 Trust in established institutions and actors, including political parties, the civil service, academic experts, and the mass media.
 Japan’s foreign and security policy in response to challenges to the liberal international order and continuing tensions in East Asia.
 The short- and long-term consequences of an aging population.

Related Group Chair(s): Sidney Rothstein, Williams College, sar5@williams.edu

APSA Labor Politics promotes scholarship on labor-related issues. We invite papers and panels to be submitted on any theme related to labor, work, unions, or employment. We encourage diverse perspectives on these topics from any range of academic specialties, including but not limited to economy, comparative politics, social movements, public policy, interest groups, state politics, immigration, theory, human rights, gender, race, ethnicity, history, and law. We seek to connect diverse scholars and particularly welcome international and comparative scholarship along with international and junior scholars.

We would be especially interested in papers discussing topics such as resurgent and alternative labor organizing, new patterns of working-class identities and mobilization, the role of labor in climate politics and “green capitalism,” intersections of labor mobilization and social movements, migration and refugee issues, popular resistance to austerity, labor and parties in advanced economies, issues related to employment and labor market policies, changes in union politics and political organizations, informal and precarious work, and unemployment.

We welcome papers from a wide range of methodological approaches, focused on any region of the world.

Related Group Chair(s): Sophia Jordan Wallace, University of Washington, sophiajw@uw.edu

Consistent with its organizing theme, the APSA Latina/o Caucus in 2024 will organize panels focused on the professional development of Latina/o scholars and emerging Latina/o politics research. In addition, in keeping with the theme of “Democracy: Retrenchment, Renovation, and Reimagination” for the 2024 annual meeting, the Caucus is particularly interested in receiving suggestions for papers and panels that focus on current debates regarding issues of democracy for and representation of Latinas/os/xs in the United States. Our 2023 program will also include a co-sponsored reception and our annual Business Meeting and elections. The Latino Caucus welcomes diversity of approach and interdisciplinarity from a wide-ranging collection of researchers. For more information, please visit and select “APSA 2024 Call for Papers and Conference Program.

Related Group Chair(s): RG Cravens, Southern Poverty Law Center, royal.cravens@splcenter.org

The LGBTQ Caucus invites proposals that address the 2024 conference theme by connecting the study of sexuality and gender to theoretical or empirical work on politics. Qualitative and/or qualitative methods are welcome, as are political theory and pedagogical praxis-oriented pieces. We especially encourage scholars working on “non-mainstream” topics in political science and historically marginalized or underrepresented scholars to apply to APSA through our Caucus.

Related Group Chair(s): Cary J. Nederman, Texas A&M University, cary-j-nederman@tamu.edu

“Foundations and Advancement of Democracy in Medieval Political Thought

Complimenting the overall APSA 2024 theme of the prospects of democratic government, Politica – the Society for the Study of Medieval Political Thought is organizing a panel to explore the foundations and advancement of democratic political ideas, principles, processes and institutions in medieval political thought. We are interested in papers that discuss the contributions to democratic government and governance found throughout the Middle Ages both in the work of political thinkers and actors that contribute to our understanding of the origins and development of democracy both as an ideal, a lived-out experiment, and an implementable reality.”

Related Group Chair(s): Ruth Dassonneville, Université de Montréal, ruth.dassonneville@umontreal.ca

The Political Forecasting Group invites panel and paper proposals for the 2024 APSA Annual Meeting, which will be held in Philadelphia from September 5 to September 8, 2024. We welcome forecasting research from a variety of subfields, including comparative politics, international relations, and elections. We are open to a diversity of methodological approaches and warmly welcome young scholars and members of underrepresented groups to submit a proposal to the Group. If you have questions or need more information, feel free to contact the group organizer (Ruth Dassonneville).

Related Group Chair(s): Paul Nolette, Marquette University, paul.nolette@marquette.edu; Philip Rocco, Marquette University, philip.rocco@marquette.edu

Publius welcomes proposals analyzing contemporary developments in American federalism from a variety of perspectives and taking a variety of approaches.

Related Group Chair(s): Mark J Lutz, Associate Professor, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, mark.lutz@unlv.edu

The Society for Greek Political Thought is an interdisciplinary organization devoted to the study of classical political thinking in all of its forms: ancient Greek philosophy, drama, poetry, history, and other works on politics and morals. The Society especially welcomes papers on the study of the Socratic revolution in political and moral thought. In addition, the Society welcomes a wide range of scholarly approaches. We also invite papers on how ancient Roman, medieval Islamic, and early modern thinkers, among others, adopted, revised, or vigorously contested elements of classical Greek political thought. Naturally, we always welcome papers on democracy in its original form.

Related Group Chair(s): Nhu Truong, Denison University, truongn@denison.edu; Darin Self, Brigham Young University, darin_self@byu.edu

The Southeast Asian Politics Related Group (SEAPRG) invites proposals for the 2024 American Political Science Association conference, scheduled to meet in Philadelphia, Sept. 5-8, 2024.

The conference theme is “Democracy: Retrenchment, Renovation, & Reimagination.” We welcome submissions of papers and organized panels that address key questions and issues in Southeast Asian politics, including how political institutions, actors, and processes at various levels affect the quality of democratic practices. In particular, we are interested in papers examining how long-standing threats to democracy – social and political inequalities, powerful political actors, poor public services provisions, among others— interact with emerging actors, institutions and processes. What roles might new social actors, digital technology, social media, citizen assemblies, participatory budgeting, and deliberative consultation, for example, play in generating new norms and outcomes that can strengthen democratic practices in the region?

We are open to all methodological approaches. Proposal for individual papers or well-organized panels/roundtables are both welcomed, though we note a preference for panels/roundtables that reflect diversity and inclusion, along as many dimensions as possible.

The deadline for submissions is January 17, 2024.

Related Group Chair(s): Joseph Prud’homme, Washington College, jprudhomme2@washcoll.edu; Frank La Veness, St. John’s University, LEVENESF@stjohns.edu

Exploring the Concept of Government ‘Weaponization’

Among conservative citizens in the United States the charge is frequently advanced that the federal government, and, in some regions, state governments, are weaponized against them. In turn, citizens who identify as liberal or progressive, although less likely to use the term weaponization as such, often advance the concept in their allegation that the Trump administration constituted an assault—one coordinated weapon—against the rule of law and American political and legal norms. This roundtable will explore the concept of governmental weaponization in depth from a multiplicity of viewpoints. How have similar charges in the past been resolved? What is the political-psychological foundation for the allegation of a government weaponized against segments of its citizenry? Are there factual bases for the allegation that aspects of federal and state governments have been weaponized in any intelligible sense against conservative Americans, or that Trump, his administration, and his political allies themselves constituted (and continue constitute) a weapon targeted at the American public and America’s legal and political institutions?