Elections and Constitutional Changes: Members Only

For Members Only:

The deadline has now passed for nominations for the following slots on the Executive Committee:

1) Asia representative (two year);
2) Developing Eurasia position (two year);
3) Middle East representative (two year).

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we have not had any viable  nominations for slots 2 and 3. As a result, the EXCOM has endorsed the extension of the term of the current representatives, Jason Strakes (Georgia) and Imad Mansour (Qatar), for one more year. They have been serving in that position since 2011 and the general guidelines of ISA permit office holding for four years. If there are any objections to this, however, please let us know via an email to the Chair.We value your opinion.

For the Asia representative, we have one, an outstanding,nominee. His bio is as follows:

Alan Chong is Associate Professor at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. He has published widely on the notion of soft power and the role of ideas in constructing the international relations of Singapore and Asia. His publications have appeared in The Pacific Review; International Relations of the Asia-Pacific; Asian Survey; East Asia: an International Quarterly; Politics, Religion and Ideology; the Review of International Studies; the Cambridge Review of International Affairs and Armed Forces and Society. He is also the author of Foreign Policy in Global Information Space: Actualizing Soft Power (Palgrave, 2007). He is currently working on several projects exploring the notion of ‘Asian international theory’. His interest in soft power has also led to inquiry into the sociological and philosophical foundations of international communication. In tandem, he has pursued a fledgling interest in researching cyber security issues. He has frequently been interviewed in the Asian media and consulted in think-tank networks in the region. Alan Chong is also currently Deputy Coordinator of the MSc (IR) programme and the main Coordinator of the Goh Keng Swee Command and Staff College Executive programme’s Security Studies module. He can be contacted at: iscschong@ntu.edu.sg

 

 Please vote Yes, or No, via an email to us, using the subject line "ASIA-YES" or "ASIA-NO."
YES                             NO

NOTE: Only bona fide members of the caucus can vote; hence you must vote via email so that your status can be matched against our lists. Please do not forget to include  the relevant subject line.
Voting ends May16th, 2014.

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Proposed Constitutional Changes for Your Comment :

Under Article VII: Amendments, any changes approved by the EXCOM must be circulated to the membership for comment.Proposals will be adopted if approved by 2/3rds of the members present at the next annual meeting.
 
In Toronto the EXCOM agreed to the following charter changes (in tan below) which we are sending to the membership at large for comment:

Preamble:



The Caucus focuses on scholarship and research on Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Developing Eurasia.
 (Explanation: added to give fuller support to our Developing Eurasia Initiative. )

In ARTICLE IV.


1. The officers of the Global South Caucus for International Studies shall be as follows: Chair, a Vice Chair who will also serve as the Program Chair, a Vice Chair for Outreach to the south, a Secretary, a Treasurer and a Newsletter Editor.

(Explanation: The second vice chair is being eliminated since all officers now share the task of outreach.)




2. The term of office for the Chair and Vice Chairs shall be two (2) years, unless the Executive Committee votes, under extraordinary circumstances, to extend these terms for no more than two additional years .


(Explanation: This regularizes a situation which has arisen in the past two years.)




5a. The Executive Council shall consist of all current officers, the immediate past chair of GSCIS serving ex-officio, and five (5) at-large members representing the following areas:

i) Latin America and the Caribbean; ii) South and Southeast Asia and the Pacific; iii) Africa; iv) Middle East/North Africa; v) developing Eurasia and/or North-South. The designation ‘North-South” refers to scholars working on issues linking North America and Europe with the global south.

6. At-large members shall serve a non-renewable term of two (2) years, unless the Executive Committee votes, under extraordinary circumstances, to extend these terms for no more than two additional years.

(Explanation: This regularizes a situation which has arisen in the past two years.)




In ARTICLE V:


7. The duties of the officers and Council shall be:
...
b) Vice-Chairs: To assist the Chair in carrying out the duties above. In addition, the Vice Chair is responsible for organizing, with input from the Chair and second Vice Chair, caucus representation on the annual ISA Convention Program. Either The Vice Chair can serve as Chair in the absence of the Chair. The Vice Chair for Outreach has as additional responsibilities the recruitment of members from the Global South as well as the establishment of linkages between the Caucus/ISA and relevant institutions in the global south. 

(Explanation: eliminates the Vice Chair for Outreach position.)

7:
.. d) Executive Council: To propose, debate and vote on initiatives in support of the Caucus’s mission; to assist the second Vice Chair in recruitment and outreach; to assist with arrangements for the annual meeting; to set membership dues; to compose and fill vacancies on any committees constituted by the Caucus; to perform other tasks that the membership, assembled at the annual meeting, recommends or that the Council itself initiates.

(Explanation: eliminates Vice Chair for Outreach position.)

 9. Voting rights: The Chair, Vice Chairs, and members of the Executive Council shall have the right to vote. The Secretary, Treasurer, Newsletter Editor and Immediate Past Chair sit on the Council ex officio. In the event of a tie, the Council being an 8-member one, the Immediate Past Chair will be permitted to vote in order to break the tie.

(Explanation: There will now be only one vice chair and the Council will be a seven member one.)

11. Vacancies occurring between elections in all elected offices, except the office of the Chair, shall be filled by action of the Executive Council, and only for the completion of the term of the retiring officer. In the event of a vacancy in the office of Chair, either the Vice Chair shall become chair.


In ARTICLE VI: NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS
....

The two Vice Chairs are each The Vice Chair is eligible to serve as Chair as is any member who is deemed to have played a sufficiently active role in the caucus.
Candidates nominated should meet the required criteria of geographic and disciplinary diversity. The committee should take into account the contributions of nominees to the Caucus and the ISA.
Bios of prospective candidates shall be e-mailed to members before the annual meeting or before any bye-election. Ballots shall be returned by e-mail within a specified period of time. New officers shall be presented to the membership at the annual meeting.

In extraordinary circumstances, elections may take place no more than thirty (30) days after the annual meeting. In such a case, the terms of members of the EXCOM will expire with new elections rather than at the annual meeting.

(Explanation: This regularizes a situation that has arisen in the past two years. )

 Email : Chair

 With Comments. Open for 60 days..

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