ISA is divided into 24 thematic groups (Sections) and 3 Caucuses in order to provide opportunities to exchange ideas and research with local colleagues and within specific subject areas. Short summary descriptions of each can be found below.
Sections
Active Learning in International Affairs (ALIAS)
ALIAS provides a forum for exploring active learning approaches to teaching international affairs. These approaches include, but are not limited to: case studies, simulations, games and role-play, service and service learning, study abroad, film, and interactive technology. We also encourage exploration of interdisciplinary active learning approaches and rethinking overarching curricular issues in international studies. ALIAS supports the development and use of active and experiential learning techniques in international affairs, promotes discussion of the practical aspects of teaching and learning, and encourages research on the effects of active learning in international affairs. Please see the website for more information.
Comparative Interdisciplinary Studies (CISS)
CISS is dedicated to the application of an interdisciplinary perspective to the study of international, transnational, and regional issues, with special emphasis on sources of conflict, patterns of change and continuity, and the development of societies and institutions within the international system. The Section encourages innovative research and exploration of paradigms and methodologies in analyzing these complex phenomena. CISS actively seeks to bring scholars, policy makers, and practitioners together in a cooperative effort to achieve a synergism between divergent disciplines and perspectives. Please see the website for more information.
Diplomatic Studies (DPLST)
The purposes of the DSS are to promote the exchange of ideas among diplomaticists across both disciplinary and international boundaries; to build a feeling of scholarly community and create a lobby in favor of diplomatic studies; to facilitate networking among students of diplomacy and hence cooperation on joint projects; and to strengthen research and teaching in the field and attract talented new scholars to it.
English School (ENGSS)
The English School section seeks to foster appreciation of, and to develop the cultural, structural and normative resources present in, the writings of the classical English School scholars, who developed an approach to international relations that was historical, sociological and normative. Please see the website for more information.
Environmental Studies (ESS)
ESS seeks to better understanding of the reciprocal influence of natural and human systems within global, regional, and national contexts, and to promote scholarly interactions among social and natural scientists and policy-makers interested in these issues. Because of its subject matter, the section is very diverse, gathering scholars from different disciplines concerned with environmental issues, who reflect widely different theoretical perspectives, and come from a variety of geographic regions. Please see the website for more information.
Ethnicity, Nationalism, & Migration Studies (ENMISA)
The aim of the Section is to foster research and scholarly communication in the realm of ethnic studies, nationalism and migration. The organization’s intellectual and professional purview is conceived broadly and includes, in addition to the subjects explicitly noted in its name, such other characteristics of populations as culture, race, religion and language, as these may affect human life and/or international relations. Please see the website for more information.
Feminist Theory and Gender Studies (FTGS)
The Feminist Theory and Gender Studies Section promotes research on gender-related topics throughout the field of international studies, including women in development, gender and globalization, gender and security, cross-cultural comparative studies, for instance. It encourages the application of diverse feminist theories to international relations. Please see the website for more information.
Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA)
FPA seeks to foster the study of foreign policy making and foreign policy behavior. It equally welcomes the study of both specific nations/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. Please see the website for more information.
Global Development (GDS)
GDS seeks to advance analysis of and debate about the political economy of international development theory, politics, policy and planning, criteria and evaluation, especially between the scholarly and policy communities in both the South and North. In particular, it will seek to advance in and through ISA awareness of issues in and participation by analysts from the South via continuing, mutual communication & research links among faculty, students, practitioners & others in civil society concerned with sustainable development. Please see the website for more information.
Human Rights (HR)
HR encourages multidisciplinary scholarship and teaching in the area of human rights. This includes those in the disciplines of political science, law, history, philosophy, economics, sociology, anthropology, and other related fields. It will foster discussion and other interaction between members of the ISA as well as those outside of the ISA with view toward enhancing academic research, policy development and teaching in the broad and varied area of human rights and related issues. Please see the website for more information.
Intelligence Studies (ISS)
ISS is devoted to the advancement of research on all aspects of intelligence as it relates to international studies. Dedicated to studying and teaching the specific subject of intelligence, the ISS also believes that the subject should be addressed in the larger context of international relations, foreign policy, international law, ethics, and the efforts of nation-states to maintain political, economic, and military security. Please see the website for more information.
International Communication (ICOMM)
ICOMM is broadly interested in issues including (but not limited to), the impact of information technologies in world politics, the role of the media in foreign policy, cultural dimensions of international studies, the political economy of the communications industries, information in the global order. Please see the website for more information.
International Education (IEDUC)
The IEDUC section seeks to provide for the exchange of information and promote dialogue on best practices in the teaching and administration of internationally oriented undergraduate and graduate program related to international affairs. It also sponsors panels, roundtables and poster session on issues related to international education based on the interests of Section members. Please see the website for more information.
International Ethics (IETHICS)
IETHICS encourages scholarship and discussion among philosophers, historians, political and social scientists, and policy practitioners on questions of ethics in international and global affairs. It serves as a forum for discussion about central literatures and debates, as well as policy issues and pedagogical concerns, from a wide range of ethical perspectives and approaches, including international descriptive ethics, international normative ethics, metaethics, comparative ethics, international religious ethics, international political theory, and international legal theory. Please see the website for more information.
International Law (ILAW)
ILAW is devoted to advancing knowledge and understanding of international law amongst scholars and students. The section aims to enhance the capacities of political science, legal, and other scholars, practitioners, and others with teaching, research, and policy interests in the field of international law. Please see the website for more information.
International Organization (IO)
The IO Section is dedicated to the study of contemporary and historical international integration processes, transnational interactions, and formal and informal international institutions. Please see the website for more information.
International Political Economy (IPE)
IPE seeks to advance knowledge of how political institutions, processes, and actors influence economic interactions, and conversely, how economic institutions, processes, and actors affect political interactions. IPE scholars examine the role of domestic drivers in shaping global politics as well as the influence of global drivers on domestic politics. Substantive issues this section focuses on include international and regional regimes, private authority structures, welfare policies, social and environmental policies, monetary and exchange rate policies, global integration, international trade, international development and equity, international finance, multinational corporations, NGOs, and corporate social responsibility. We encourage theoretical and methodological diversity, and welcome conceptual as well as empirical contributions. Please see the website for more information.
International Political Sociology (IPS)
IPS aims to foster research and scholarly communication in the realm of international and transnational studies and to bridge the domestic and international levels of analysis. The Section’s focus is on the social and cultural dimensions of international studies, broadly conceived. One of its main purposes is to foster innovative epistemological, methodological, analytic and theoretical perspectives on aspects of international studies less central to state-centered, economic, diplomatic and other traditional approaches. Please see the website for more information.
International Security Studies (ISSS)
The ISSS is dedicated to enhancing knowledge and understanding about a wide range of international security issues including war and peace, military effectiveness, civil-military relations, alliances and security institutions, terrorism, intervention, peacekeeping, and the political economy of violence, among others. It welcomes a wide range of methodologies, disciplines and subject matter and seeks to encourage and recognize exceptional scholarship on security issues. Please see the website for more information.
Peace Studies (PEACE)
The Peace Studies section seeks a better understanding of the causes of war and violence and of the conditions of peace in the international system. To this end, the Peace Studies Section links scholars of various disciplines and methodologies, develops, encourages, and disseminates research, and facilitates research-based teaching in peace and conflict studies. Please see the website for more information.
Political Demography and Geography (PDG)
The Political Demography and Geography Section invites scholars from all disciplines to apply diverse methodologies and explore the fascinating interaction between populations, geography and politics. Please see the website for more information.
Post Communist States (POSTCOM)
The POSTCOMM Section seeks to identify international and domestic factors that have affected and will affect the relations of the United States and Canada with any or all of the states that have emerged from the former Soviet bloc and to foster discussion of these factors. The Section encourages and draws upon diverse methodologies, ranging from the strictly historical to the highly mathematical. Please see the website for more information.
Scientific Study of International Processes (SSIP)
SSIP is dedicated to bringing together researchers who, at all levels of analysis and with respect to the entire range of international political questions, pursue issues using (1) formally stated arguments and/or (2) systematically collected and analyzed empirical data. Following the canons of scientific inquiry, the section seeks to support and promote replicable research in terms of the clarity of a theoretical argument and/or the testing of hypotheses. Please see the website for more information.
Theory (THEORY)
The Theory Section has three main aims: (i) Promoting the importance of theory in IR scholarship and encouraging scholars to interrogate the meaning and purpose of theory, how theories develop, how they relate to history and affect policymaking; (ii) fostering research networks and opportunities for collaboration and exchange, regardless of regional/topical expertise and across the theoretical spectrum; and (iii) enhancing the dialogue between IR and Political Theory and the status of IR scholars as political theorists. Please see the website for more information.
Caucuses
Global South Caucus (GSCIS)
The Global South Caucus (GSCIS) is open to members of all sections of ISA who study the global south regions, the south as a whole, relevant south societies in the north, or relations between the north and south. The Global South Caucus is a “trans-sectional” network that aims to provide a channel for the sharing of research, information and ideas among scholars and practitioners of/in the various regions of the south. Please see the website for more information.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, Queer, & Allies Caucus (LGBTQA)
LGBTQA aims to promote fair and equal treatment of members of the LGBTQA community in the ISA and in the profession of international studies, in areas including but not limited to graduate school admission, financial assistance in schools, employment, tenure, and promotion. It seeks to combat discrimination against and provide support for LGBTQ faculty, student, and professional members of ISA. Please see the website for more information.
Women's Caucus (WCIS)
WCIS is devoted to upgrading the status of women in the profession of international studies. WCIS seeks to promote equal opportunities for women in their professional lives, from graduate school admissions through all stages of employment. WCIS also seeks to promote women's professional development, both in academic and non-academic professional careers in international studies. Please see the website for more information.
