2004 Newsletter

Dear Foundations Members,

This is the sixth edition of the Foundations of Political Theory Newsletter, announcing Foundations Awards and other news.

Plenary Panel

For the second year, Foundations is sponsoring a Plenary Panel at the APSA Convention. This year's featured speaker is Rey Chow, of Brown University.

Professor Chow is author of Woman and Chinese Modernity: The Politics of Reading Between West and East (1991), Writing Diaspora: Tactics of Intervention in Contemporary Cultural Studies (1993), The Protestant Ethnic and the Spirit of Capitalism (2002), and other books. Last year's plenary panel, featuring Avishai Margalit, was highly successful; all members are encouraged to attend this year's. The theme of Professor Chow's presentation is:

"Ethics, Visuality, and Snippets from Contemporary China."

This is scheduled for Friday, Sep 3, at 4:15 PM. Full information is as follows:

Back to top

Business Meeting and Receptions

At the APSA Convention, the schedule for the Foundations Council and Business Meetings and Reception is as follows:

For the plenary panel and these events, locations will be made available.

Note: The schedule for the business meeting that appears in the preliminary program in PS is incorrect. The above times are the correct ones.

Back to top

Placement Newsletter

As things presently stand, there will be no placement newsletter this year. For each of the past few years, Foundations has publicized the outcomes of job searches in political theory. Each year, information was collected on approximately half of the previous year's searches and included in a special newsletter.

This year, the APSA has not made available information on the previous year's job openings, which has made a special newsletter impossible. It is still conceivable that APSA will provide the information, in which case, a special newsletter will be distributed, though this would be during the fall semester.

Back to top

Foundations Awards

Each year Foundations awards three prizes. The winners for 2004 are as follows.

David Easton Award

The David Easton Award is given for a book that broadens the horizons of contemporary political science by engaging issues of philosophical significance in political life through any of a variety of approaches in the social sciences and humanities. The award is limited to books published in the previous five years and carries a cash prize of $500.

2004 Award Committee is:

Last year's recipient was Scott L. Althaus, of Speech Communication and Political Science at the University of Illinois, for his book: Collective Preferences in Democratic Politics: Opinion Surveys and the Will of the People (Cambridge University Press, 2003).

The 2004 Award Committee was:

First Book Award

The First Book Award is given for a first book by a scholar in the "early stages of his or her career" in the area of political theory or political philosophy. "Early stages" is interpreted to mean that the recipient cannot have held his or her PhD for more than ten years. This award carries a cash prize of $200.00.

Last year there were co-winners. The committee has decided to split the award between two books. According to the committee chair: "Try as we might, we couldn't separate them; both are excellent." The recipients were:

The 2004 Award Committee was:

Best Paper Award

The Best Paper Award is given for the best paper presented on a foundation panel at the previous year's APSA Annual Meeting. The award is limited to non tenured scholars, and carries a cash prize of $200.

This year's Award Committee is:

Last year's winner was Christiane Wilke, New School, for her paper: "A Particular Universality."

The 2004 Award Committee was:

Back to top

APSA Centennial Center for Political Science & Public Affairs, Visiting Scholars Program

The American Political Science Association recently opened the Centennial Center for Political Science & Public Affairs in its headquarters building in Washington. As part of its programs, the Centennial Center assists scholars from the United States and abroad whose research and teaching would benefit from a stay in and access to the incomparable resources available in the nation's capital. The Center provides Visiting Scholars the infrastructure needed to conduct their work, including furnished work space with computer, phone, fax, conference space, and library access.

The Center has space to host 10 scholars for extended periods of time, ranging from weeks to months. Space for shorter "drop-in" stays is also available. Scholars are expected to pursue their own research and teaching projects and contribute to the intellectual life of the residential community by sharing their work with Center colleagues in occasional informal seminars.

Eligibility is limited to APSA members. Senior or junior faculty members, post-doctoral fellows, and advanced graduate students are strongly encouraged to apply. A short application form is required and submissions will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Positions are awarded based on space availability and relevant Center programming.

Back to top

Requests for Spare Political Theory Books

Many Universities in other countries are in need of books in different fields, including political theory. Foundations has a new link on its website, updated monthly, that publicizes requests from institutions, libraries and academic groups across the world seeking donations of political theory texts. Individuals, groups, or institutions interested in donating political theory texts are asked to contact the recipient institutions directly. All contact information is included in the solicitations from foreign universities.

Institutions and groups seeking donations are asked to contact Fonna Forman Barzilai at: ffb@ucsd.edu

Back to top

Contemporary Political Theory

Foundations of Political Theory members are eligible for a discounted rate on a personal subscription to Contemporary Political Theory (http://www.political-theory.org/fpt/www.palgrave-journals.com/cpt): an international, peer-reviewed journal on political philosophy and theory.

Contemporary Political Theory is edited by Gary Browning (Oxford Brookes University, UK), Kimberly Hutchings (London School of Economics, UK) and Raia Prokhovnik (The Open University, UK).

A sample issue of the journal can be accessed online at www.palgrave-journals.com/cpt. To order a print sample copy, or for more information on institutional subscriptions, please email: emma.jones@palgrave.com.

Back to top

Website

As most people know, Foundations has a web page. The current url is: http://www.political-theory.org/

The website is maintained by Fonna Forman-Barzilai, of the University of California, San Diego and Theresa Man Lee, of the University of Guelph. In addition to information concerning Foundations awards and officers, it contains links to a schedule of Foundations panels at the APSA meeting, professional associations, fellowship and grant information, new books on political theory, relevant journals, and additional information, including Foundations by laws. It is important to know that the web site also has a link to Amazon.com. Foundations receives a share of the revenue from books purchased through this link.

Back to top

Officers

The current slate of Foundations officers is as follows:

Coordinator:

Michael Gibbons
University of South Florida

2004 Program Chair:

Melissa Orlie
University of Illinois-Champaign Urbana

Newsletter Editor:

George Klosko
University of Virginia

Treasurer:

Stephen Leonard
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Webmaster

Fonna Forman-Barzilai
University of California, San Diego

Council

Jane Bennett, Goucher College
Stephen Esquith, Michigan State University
Roxanne Euben, Wellesley College
Mary Bellhouse, Providence College
John Tomasi, Brown University
Jeffery Isaac, Indiana University-Bloomington
Andrew Valls, Oregon State University

(Terms for John Tomasi and Jeffrey Isaac end September 1, 2004.)

George Klosko
University of Virginia
Michael Gibbons
University of South Florida

Back to top

A note from the Coordinator

I would like to thank George Klosko for putting together the newsletter under less than ideal circumstances. We never received placement information from the APSA and I was away for a better part of the summer, making it difficult to get in touch with me.

I would also like to convey my thanks to members who served on selection committees. These things take up a good deal of time and we owe them our thanks.

Back to top

Foundations of Political Theory