FPA Section Charter
REVISED CHARTER OF THE FOREIGN POLICY ANALYSIS SECTION OF THE ISA
November 2010
Article I. Name
This Section shall be known as the Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) Section of the International Studies Association (ISA).
Article II. Purpose
FPA seeks to foster the study of foreign policy making and foreign policy behavior. It equally welcomes the study of both specific states/regions and analyses with cross-national applicability. Relevant research is defined quite broadly in the Section to include such topics as domestic sources of foreign policy, political psychology of national decision-makers, the development and maintenance of decision regimes through bureaucratic and organizational means, the use of events data, and the use of systematic comparative case studies, among others.
Article III. Membership
1. FPA membership is open to all ISA members, subject only to their payment of annual Section dues.
2. In addition to their privileges as ISA members, FPA members are entitled to whatever privileges may be established by the Section or its Executive Council. At the minimum, these additional privileges include the right to attend all Section business meetings, to vote on future amendments to this Charter, to vote on members of the Executive Council, and to receive all Section communications.
Article IV. FPA Bodies and Their Meetings
1. Between annual Section business meetings, the administrative body of FPA shall be the Section’s Executive Council.
2. The Executive Council shall consist of six members: the President, the Vice President, the immediate Past President, and three At-Large Officers from the membership of the Section. Membership on the Council shall be for one-year terms of office.
3. Ad Hoc Planning Committees: Ad Hoc Planning Committees will consist of three members, including at least one Past President of the Section, and will be responsible for organizing occasional Section conferences or edited volumes. Each committee will serve for the planning and duration of the conference or volume.
4. Unless otherwise noted, all terms of Section Bodies shall be for one year.
5. Only members of FPA may become officers or committee members, and only FPA members may vote in any election or referendum.
6. The annual business meeting of the Section will be held at the annual ISA convention, unless less than half of the Executive Council will be in attendance. In such a case, the Section President will make alternate arrangements for the annual business meeting.
7. Ad Hoc Planning Committees shall meet at the discretion of their members.
8. The Executive Council will name representatives or liaison officers, as appropriate, to the various standing committees of the ISA.
Article V. Duties of Officers
1. The President of FPA will assume his or her post automatically following his or her term as Vice President of the Section. The President is to provide leadership and coordination of Section activities and presides over all meetings the Executive Council. The President may call special meetings as deemed necessary. The President is responsible for the call for nominations for the Section’s annual Distinguished Scholar in Foreign Policy Analysis. The President is responsible for distributing nomination materials to the Executive Council and for coordinating the ranking of nominees and the final selection of the Distinguished Scholar in consultation with the Executive Council. The President is responsible for assembling the participants for the Distinguished Scholar Panel and serves as the Chair of that Panel. As there is no Section treasurer, the President coordinates all Section financial matters with ISA Headquarters in consultation with the Executive Council. The President also notifies ISA Headquarters as to the membership of the Executive Council and of all FPA offices at the beginning of his or her term, and arranges for this information to be published on the Section website and through email to the Section membership. Finally, the President is responsible for coordinating evidence of FPA activity when the Section is required by the ISA to “re-certify” (as mentioned in Article X, point 2 below).
2. The Vice President is the President-elect of the Section. The first responsibility of the Vice President is to serve as Section Program Chair and coordinate the submission of FPA-sponsored panels to the Program Chair(s) of the ISA’s annual convention. The Vice President will issue a call for papers, panels and posters to the Section via email and the Section website immediately following the ISA annual convention. The Vice President will also ask the ISA Program Chairs to make space on the program for the Distinguished Scholar Panel and Reception and the annual business meeting. The Vice President is responsible for attending the ISA convention planning meetings, normally held at the conclusion of the ISA annual convention and at the APSA annual convention. Should he or she be unable to attend these meetings, he or she is responsible for sending a suitable representative of the Section. The Vice President is also responsible for the details of the Distinguished Scholar Reception, which is also the Section’s annual reception under normal circumstances. This reception will be held at the ISA annual convention. Duties here include generating sponsorships for the reception and event planning in conjunction with ISA representative(s). The Vice President also assumes the duties of the President in the President’s absence and assists the President as requested. The Vice President, acting as President-elect, is also responsible for coordinating the election of the Vice President and At-Large Officers at the annual business meeting. The President also represents the Section at the meeting of the ISA Governing Council at the ISA annual convention.
3. One of the At-Large Officers will fill the role of Chair of the Alexander George Award for best graduate student paper. This officer will publish an announcement of the competition to the Section by email and on the Section website. The Chair will coordinate the collection of the papers, distribution to the other committee members, judging process, announcement of winners to the Section and ISA, and announcement at the FPA annual reception. The Chair will also keep the President apprised of the status and progress of the committee. The other At-Large Officers serve on the award committee.
4. The other At-Large Officers will serve in capacities as agreed upon by the Executive Council. These include but are not limited to coordinating special projects such as innovative panels at the ISA annual convention, promoting FPA-focused workshops, serving as liaison with other sections and regional ISA groups, and maintaining communications. An At-Large Officer may also be responsible for the Section’s syllabi collection.
5. The Executive Council is composed of the President, Vice President, three At-Large Officers and the immediate Past President of the Section.
6. None of the FPA Section Officers may receive funds from the Section for the purposes of carrying out his or her designated duties.
Article VI. Nominations, Elections, and Appointments
1. The President is responsible for issuing a call for nominations for the Vice Presidency and the three At-Large Officer positions to the Section membership by email 60 days prior to the annual business meeting. Self nominations are acceptable. Any one nominating or nominated must be a current member in good standing of FPA. All nominations must be received by the President at least 45 days before the annual ISA convention. A ballot with the names and short biographical statements of the nominees will be distributed to the membership at least 30 days before the annual business meeting.
2. The elected offices to be filled each year included the Vice President and the three At-Large Officers of the Executive Council. The different duties of the At Large officers will be determined at the time of the election. Past Presidents and Vice Presidents of the Section cannot hold these same positions again for five years after their term has ended. At-Large Officers cannot serve for more than three consecutive terms.
3. Nominees for election to the offices mentioned in Point 2 of this article shall be voted upon at the annual business meeting. Persons receiving the majority of votes cast for each position shall be elected.
4. Reconstitution of the Executive Council will take place at the annual ISA convention. The Executive Council, after the election of the new Vice President and the possible election of new At-Large Officers, will be reconstituted by rotating out the Past President and former members of the Executive Council, and installing the President as the Past President, the Vice President as the President, and so forth.
Article VII. Administration
1. The FPA President, in consultation with the Executive Council, shall be responsible for the administration of the Section’s affairs, subject to the rules and regulations of the ISA and the Section Charter.
2. The Section may solicit funds from external sources, but may use the names of, or commit the ISA only after consultation with the appropriate bodies of the ISA. Similarly, the Section may not use the name of the ISA in any publication without the express consent of the appropriate bodies of the ISA.
3. The Executive Council has the power to set membership dues, subject to any regulations by ISA on this matter.
Article VIII. Special Section Activities
There are four special activities of FPA that need mention at this time. These activities are optional, but it is the intent of the framers of this Charter to see them continued.
1. The annual Distinguished Scholar Panel and Reception: This event is designed to honor a distinguished scholar in the field of foreign policy analysis who has made significant contributions this area of research. The Section’s first Distinguished Scholar Award (formerly called Senior Scholar Award) was presented in 1990. A panel devoted to the evaluation of his or her work’s significance is formed and consists of the Distinguished Scholar, the Section President as panel chair, and three to four other members. After the panel, a reception is held in honor of the Distinguished Scholar. This reception normally doubles as the Section’s reception. The President, in consultation with the Executive Council, is responsible for selecting the Distinguished Scholar, organizing the panel, and giving the toast in honor of the Distinguished Scholar at the reception. As noted in Article V, point 2 above, the Vice President is responsible for finding sponsors for the reception and for event planning in coordination with the ISA.
2. The Alexander George Award: This competition is designed to foster the development of young scholars who are intent on studying some aspect of foreign policy. The first competition was held 1990–91. The Executive Council is responsible for advertising this competition, which is open to graduate students (members or non-members of the Section alike). Non-members of the Section should indicate that they will be members of the Section by the time of the annual ISA convention. The Award committee is chaired by one of the At-Large Officers and composed of the other two At-Large Officers. This committee will judge the papers and award a first place, second place, and third place prize if they believe that the papers deserve such recognition. In the event that the committee does not believe that any of the submissions qualify for the award, none will be given out that year. The monetary amount of the prizes shall be set by the Executive Council, in consultation with any external sources providing funding for the prizes. Disbursement of prize monies will be effected in coordination with ISA Headquarters, and announcement of the winning papers will be made at the annual business meeting, to the Section by email and on the Section website as well as to ISA.
3. Section-sponsored Occasional Volumes: The Section occasionally sponsors edited volumes organized around a theme. All regulations of the ISA Publications Committee will be adhered to before the Section’s name or that of ISA may be used in conjunction with such a volume. Before a volume proposal can be sponsored by the Section, the unanimous vote of the Executive Council and a majority vote of the Section membership (a majority of those choosing to vote) at the annual business meeting must be secured. The volume proposal must include a plan for how it is to be reviewed externally. The majority of reviewers must be members of the Section. The Executive Council will continue to monitor activities connected with the book project, to assure its continued quality, its satisfactory pace of progress, and its adherence to procedural norms and courtesies.
4. Section Conferences: The Section may hold its own conference apart from the annual ISA convention. The conference may be in conjunction with other Regions or Sections of ISA. All ISA guidelines in regards to such conferences will be followed.
Article IX. Amendments to This Charter
1. Amendments to this Charter may be proposed by the Executive Council, to be submitted to the total Section membership by an email ballot. Such proposed amendments will be adopted if endorsed by a two-thirds majority of members who return ballots within four (4) weeks of the mailing date. Results of the voting will be published to the Section by email and the Section website.
2. Amendments to this Charter may also be proposed by any Section member. If endorsed unanimously by the Executive Council, the procedure outlined in point 1 of this article shall be followed. If not endorsed unanimously by the Executive Council, the member may then propose the amendment at the Section’s annual business meeting. If approved by a majority vote at this meeting, the proposed amendment will be submitted to the entire Section membership by email as described above.
3. All amendments to this Charter shall be reported to ISA headquarters.
Article X. Effectuation
1. This Charter shall take effect upon approval of the ISA Executive Committee and a majority vote of the FPA membership who chooses to vote.
2. It should be noted that ISA requires its sections to “re-certify” periodically. This includes presenting a copy of the Charter as well as evidence that the Section has been active during the relevant time period. Evidence would include Section-sponsored panels at annual ISA conventions, Section conferences, etc.
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