Candidate Statement from Marijke Breuning

It is a great honor to be nominated as a candidate for the International Studies Association (ISA) Presidency. I will be delighted to serve.

My past service to ISA includes leadership roles as Vice President, Chair of the Women’s Caucus, and President of the Foreign Policy Analysis section and ISA Midwest region. I also organized the international ISA conference in Hong Kong (2017), among many other service roles within ISA. I was editor for Foreign Policy Analysis, the Journal of Political Science Education, and the American Political Science Review. I have mentored women in the profession through the Pay It Forward workshops and others through “meet the editors” sessions.

My scholarship is methodologically eclectic. I focus on foreign policy analysis, emphasizing the politics of development aid, women and development, children’s rights, and small states, with additional publications on teaching/curriculum, women in the profession, and the journal review process.

My scholarly perspective is shaped by my international roots in the Netherlands, my experiences in the US, and my connections with the global south (particularly, Ethiopia). I have held positions at very different institutions – a teaching-focused liberal arts university (Truman State University) and a research-intensive one (University of North Texas). I truly believe in the “teacher-scholar” model – teaching and research are equally important.

My varied experiences have prepared me to serve ISA’s diverse constituencies.

Candidate Statement from Siba Grovogui

My research in international relations theory, law, history draws upon multiple archives, canons, and experiences. Consistently, I have served as a member of the International Theory, Global Development, and International Law Sections while playing different roles in the Global South Caucus and the Committee on the Status of Representation and Diversity.

I view my candidacy as a call to deepen the internationalization of our discipline in the face of mounting crises: the proliferation of conflicts, the multiplication of the axes of global injustice, climate change, resurgent nationalism, to terrorism. If elected, I will bring together ISA members, scholars and practitioners from the Global North and Global South to consciously work toward the design of a discipline that is responsive to present challenges. The ISA has long viewed itself as a welcoming, hospitable, and active scholarly community. It is an intellectual community that is thriving, vibrant, and capable of healthy intellectual debates. It stands to reason that the vocation of the field should be to explore canons, archives, and knowledge forms beyond its commonsense as it seeks new directions. Toward this end, I will ensure that resources, journals, conferences, and topics are both relevant and materially accessible to all, including scholars from the Global South.

Candidate Statement from Mustapha Kamal Pasha

The International Studies Association (ISA) has been my principal intellectual and professional home since 1989. It is indeed an honor to be nominated as President of this august association. Having served the ISA in various leadership capacities, including as Vice President in 2012-2013, twice as Global Development Section Chair (in 1998-1999 and 2014-2015), and as Program Chair in 2001, I am fully cognizant of the ISA’s transformative role in shaping International Studies, particularly in opening up the discipline to different intellectual commitments and constituencies. I wish to continue to be a part of a journey that sustains multivocality; I relish the opportunity to serve the association as its President and reinforce its commitment to diversity. International Studies has never been more relevant or crucial to making sense of the enormous challenges facing humanity and the planet. The ISA lies center stage in presenting intelligibility and hope in these extraordinary times. While the weight of the challenges is global, it is also unevenly distributed. As a founding member of GDS, I have consistently sought intellectual pathways to promote understanding of the universal, but highly differentiated, character of international society. It is my expectation that as President, I will build on the excellent legacy of my predecessors and colleagues and work toward consolidating a more open discipline that speaks to both our shared humanity and its different parts.

Candidate Statement from Arlene B. Tickner

I am thrilled to be nominated for ISA president. The spaces afforded by the Association over the past 20 years have been invaluable to me as a scholar-practitioner-activist based in Colombia. I attach tremendous importance to deepening efforts to cultivate genuine diversity, assure tolerance and mutual respect, and provide support for those who most need it, including early career scholars and those with precarious employment. As a member of the Global South Taskforce, chair of the Global South Caucus, associate editor of Foreign Policy Analysis, president of the ISA LAC Region and ISA Vice President, I have been vocal about our Association welcoming difference in both word and deed.

My theoretical research focuses on knowledge production, asymmetry and epistemic violence within IR, and the ways in non-Western experiences of the world translate into alternative forms of being and knowing, although I also work and publish on security and foreign policy in the Western Hemisphere. As a critical scholar I have tried to practice what I preach by using my privilege to help create space for others and to speak out against injustices within and beyond academia. If elected, I look forward to serving the Association’s multiple constituencies.

Candidate Statement from Jessica De Alba-Ulloa

The International Studies Association (ISA) has been an indispensable part of my professional development, which is why I am honored to be nominated as a candidate for Vice President. I believe I can contribute to its mission, since I am committed to the exchange of ideas and initiatives among those involved in the research, study, teaching, and practice of International Studies.

ISA has been part of my academic experience. Participating with the Theory and IO sections, as editor of the IO Compendium Project; Jury of the Theory section Book Award; At-Large representative before the Governing Council; and Chair of the Committee on the Status of Engagement with the Global South, I have had the opportunity to serve a thriving and diverse faculty and members with different interests and aspirations.

I hope that my background, experience, and personal and professional growth will serve the ISA community, to give voice to scholars from different geographies. Having the human being at the center, my work at ISA is aimed to serve, contribute to the global community, and support those who have more challenging work conditions. This is my philosophy, and I’ll be very happy to share this with all members of ISA.

Candidate Statement from Dibyesh Anand

I am once again grateful for the nomination. I am a Professor of International Relations and Head (“Dean”) of the School of Social Sciences at London’s University of Westminster. I am known for my committed and innovative scholarship on nationalism, security, China, Tibet, India, Kashmir, Islamophobia, coloniality of postcolonial states, and identity politics. My institutional leadership is focused on anti-racism, anti-sexism, anti-heterosexism and countering anti-semitism. Within the University, I am the founding co-chair of my Black and Minority Ethnic Staff Network as well as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee and an elected member of the Court of Governors.

I am excited at the opportunity to continue my work on intersectionality at ISA where I have served on The Committee on the Status of Diversity and Representation and am the Chair Elect for the LGBTQA Caucus. As a Vice President, I will do my best to serve all members, established and early career, including feminist, anti-racist, and queer scholars -- some of who have nominated me. I am committed to working together to make ISA more inclusive. Whether you vote for me or not, please do vote in the ISA elections and make it as representative and participative as possible.

Candidate Statement from Ismene Gizelis

I am honoured for the nomination as a Vice President for the International Studies Association (ISA). I am a Professor at the University of Essex (UK) and a member of ISA since 1999. I was program co-chair (with Faten Ghosn) for the 2018 annual meeting of the ISA, and I served as Section Chair for Political Demography and Geography (2019-2021). I currently serve on the editorial board of International Interactions.

ISA was always my intellectual home, a space to meet colleagues from all over the world, and exchange ideas. I am dedicated to the association run by academics, supporting diverse communities and, especially, young scholars who particularly struggle in the post-covid environment. Through-out the years I contributed to cafés, roundtables, and events such as Meet the Editors aimed at supporting and mentoring young scholars and colleagues with non-traditional professional experiences to find their way in an increasingly challenging professional environment. As a female Southern European who has been educated and worked in both Europe and the United States and someone who has battled health problems and career breaks, I believe that I am well placed in helping the association achieve these goals.

Candidate Statement from Omar Shahabudin McDoom

ISA has been a major part of my academic career starting as a graduate student 17 years ago and I have served it in many roles since then. I am currently the Chair of ISA’s Academic Freedom Committee. I start here because I have observed academic freedom under increasing threat from populist and anti-elite sentiment - in the Global South and North – that has emboldened governments to encroach increasingly on university autonomy. ISA, with its global membership and mandate, is specially-positioned to respond. As Chair, I have – with highly-dedicated committee members – strengthened the AFC’s mandate and capacity and, if elected, I would strengthen it further and use this also to engage more ISA’s Global South membership by creating standing committees of country experts to advise the AFC.

I am a scholar of peace and security, known for my work on genocide and ethnic conflict, and more recently on social inequality and kleptocracy. I have worked mainly in Africa’s Great Lakes and the Philippines. My book, The Path to Genocide in Rwanda (Cambridge 2021) won ISA-ENMISA’s Distinguished Book award. I have a record of service in leadership and administrative roles having served on ISA’s Governing Council, a university press editorial board, ethics and free speech committees, and the board of a major international school.

Candidate Statement from Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso

It is an honor to be nominated for ISA Vice-President. I am a professor of International Relations and former Dean of the School of Social Sciences at Babcock University, Nigeria; currently an associate professor of African and African American Studies at Brandeis University, USA; and previously associate professor of International Relations at Rhodes University, South Africa. My research focuses on African refugees and global politics, women, gender and post/conflict, and the politics of knowledge production.

I am from a region, Africa, that is underrepresented in the ISA, overcoming multiple structural barriers to maintain my participation over many years, becoming Co-Chair of the Feminist Theory and Gender Studies (FTGS) section (2020-2023), Governing Council member (2021/2022), and Global South Caucus member since inception in 2012. I have a demonstrated ethical commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion which undergirds all my research, teaching and service to journals, associations, and the ISA, for example, chairing the maiden Global South Feminist Scholar award committee, and serving on the FTGS Inclusion and Transformation Committee. As Vice-President of ISA, I will go beyond lip service to initiate and support programs that create equitable opportunities for all, especially scholars from minoritized groups in the ISA, towards strengthening this dynamic global institution.

Candidate Statement from Ramon Blanco

I am very honored to be on the ballot for the ISA’s Governing Council. I have an extensive career in the area of Peace Studies and I am a longtime contributor at ISA, presenting papers, chairing and serving as a discussant in several panels. More recently, I became a member of the Executive Committee of the Peace Studies Section. At the ISA’s Governing Council, I will seek to enhance the awareness of the Council about the reality of scholars and students researching in the Global South, so ISA can think about further developing policies designed to foster, even more, the support given to this group, giving particular attention to important elements such as: race, gender, social-economic conditions, among others. Additionally, I will seek to collaborate by thinking about how the ISA can foster its diversity and representation regarding key elements such as: race, gender, geographical locations, theoretical/methodological approaches, among others.

Candidate Statement from Kerry Frances Crawford

I am honored to be included on the ballot as a candidate for At-Large Representative to ISA’s Governing Council. ISA has been a professional lifeline since 2013, when I first presented research as a graduate student at the annual meeting. As ISA’s inaugural James N. Rosenau Postdoctoral Fellow in 2015-2016, I had the privilege of working with ISA Headquarters and members to develop programming and support for early career scholars. That work enabled me to develop a deeper understanding of the association and opportunities for innovation and growth. Through my involvement in the Committee on the Status of Women and the ISSS Diversity Taskforce, I have sought to expand scholars’ access to and inclusion in the association’s many opportunities and resources. As an At-Large Representative, I will support efforts to empower scholars from historically excluded groups, to improve equity within the association, and to demystify the profession’s “hidden curriculum.”

Candidate Statement from Courtney Hillebrecht

I am honored to be nominated to serve as an at-large representative to the International Studies Association Governing Council. As an international relations and human rights scholar, ISA has been my intellectual home since 2006. In recent years, I served on the leadership team of the Human Rights Section in several capacities, including as Program Co-Chair (2016-17), Vice Chair (2016-19), and Chair (2018-2020). From 2018-2019, I also served as Member-at-Large on the Executive Committee of the ISA Governing Council. I welcome the opportunity to continue to serve the broader ISA community.

As a member of the Human Rights Section leadership team, I focused my efforts on closing equity gaps, supporting early-career researchers, and streamlining our section’s processes and communication strategies. As an At-Large Representative on the 2023-2025 ISA Governing Council, I am committed to continuing to meet these goals and to supporting our organization at a moment of profound change in academia and in the world around us.

Candidate Statement from Arnaud Kurze

I am honored and grateful to be nominated for an At-Large Representative to the ISA Governing Council. As a trained political scientist in international relations studying justice-related issues from a transversal and intersectional perspective, I will continue to strive for inclusion, representation, and greater visibility of minority communities within ISA.

I have been an active member of the ISA community since 2008, and am currently a member of several ISA bodies, including the Global South Caucus, the Human Rights Section, and the LGBTQAI+ Section. As an At-Large Representative, I will support programming and outreach that foster the inclusion of historically marginalized scholars and practitioners.

Closing the gap between theory and praxis through policy-relevant research and increasing accessibility to public policy research institutions is an important goal. As a result, I strongly support the work of junior scholars, student research, and experiential learning opportunities within international studies.

My nearly decade-long public service at a public, Hispanic Serving Institution, my scholarly work at the Wilson Center, a bi-partisan Smithsonian Institution, and my extensive cross-regional network of collaborators ranging from North Africa to Southeast Asia underscore my commitment to serve our constituents’ causes and needs within ISA and beyond. Together: Onwards and Upwards!

Candidate Statement from Marcelo M. Valenca

I am honored to be a candidate for a member-at-large position on the ISA Governing Council. I first attended an ISA conference as a graduate student in 2007. Since then, I have been involved in many sections, especially the Active Learning in International Affairs Section (ALIAS) and the Online Media Caucus (OMC). I also had the opportunity to act as a member of the Committee on Representation and Diversity.

As an international scholar, I faced many challenges in my career outside my home country. But the many friends and colleagues I met in the last 15 years or so helped me to be a better scholar. ISA feels like home to me, but I still believe it is important to bring different voices to the Association, especially from the Global South.

My goal is to help other international scholars to engage with ISA in a similar fashion I was able to. I believe I can do it as a member of the Governing Council.