This year the 13th Academic Conference and General Assembly (AC&GA) will be held on 11-17 April, 2010 in Leiden – the Netherlands. The theme of the conference is “Whirlpool politics”. More information can be obtained at www.acga2010.com. It’s very important that representatives from political science associations worldwide participate at the AC&GA since the General Assembly is the highest decision making body of IAPSS.IAPSS AC&GA provides political science students around the world a unique opportunity to be acquainted with IAPSS and to establish a framework for future collaboration for research and activities in the national, regional and international level. A great chance to exchange ideas, make new friends and actively participate in discussions on issues of relevance for the existence of our network of associations and on long term and medium term goals of IAPSS.
THE THEME OF THE ACADEMIC CONFERENCE
The chosen theme of the Academic Conference is Water – Whirlpool Politics: Water as a Global Challenge.
Many scientists have already predicted that not oil, but water, will become the main source of political conflict in the future. This is especially due to the shortage of drinking water in many parts of the world, which stimulates the debate about water as a basic human need and therefore a human right. In addition, water had caught a lot of attention related to the problem of Global Warming. Nowadays, water is often seen as a very dangerous climate danger, which might be a great risk to low countries (like the Netherlands).
There are three subthemes during the conference:
Water as a human right
Relevant questions:
In what sense can political science provide answers to the questions of water becoming a human right?
How can the international order be mobilised to acknowledge the importance of this and provide adequate and pragmatic solutions for tackling the problem of the lack of water in many regions?
Water as a source of conflict
Relevant questions:
Will people in countries with structural water deficiencies eventually massively flee to regions with adequate water supply?
What are the impacts of migration caused by water as a source of instability of regions?
Will water become a genuine source of conflict and a threat to international security?
And if yes, what can be done about it?
Water as a climate danger
Relevant questions:
Considering the omnipresent threat of the sea, the Dutch have been engaged in protecting the country since several centuries.
What has this produced?
Are these protective measures a model for other low-lying countries in the world?
And what additional measures should be taken in order to protect the Netherlands in the future?
These three subthemes provide the basis for the lectures and workshops of the Academic Conference.
The IAPSS theme of the year 2010 is "Local Democracy for combating poverty and social exclusion”, a one year international-wide initiative. It’s designed to empower youth, to deliberate on the role of local government in building local democracy and support involving marginalized groups in local self-government and decision-making process.
The main objective is to raise awareness of the importance of implementing democratic innovations for engagement of the project’s target groups – young, disadvantaged and people from minorities. Through building community infrastructure and encouraging community development activities with the purpose of developing cohesion between local authorities representatives and those experiencing any kind of exclusion. IAPSS 2010 will include a series of eleven of local-based actions taking place from March 2010 to March 2011 , this actions will be supported and executed by IAPSS Association Members but open to be advocated by devoted supporters around the world.
1) Kick-off local stakeholders meeting – March 2010;
2)Youth initiated consultative exercises (participatory theatre, community visioning, focus group and petition) March-April 2010;
3)Local conference on democratic innovations: Improving opportunities for politically marginalized groups? May 2010;
4) Local convention on the role of local governments in national strategies against poverty and social exclusion – June 2010
5) Youth initiated deliberative exercises (deliberative opinion polls, study circles, democs and democracy café) July 2010;
6) Bringing local democracy to high school;September 2010
7) Youth enhancing local co-governance mechanisms ( enhancing youth councils, participatory appraisal and participatory budgeting, poverty observatories-social inclusion units, future city game) – September 2010
8) International IAPSS Annual Academic Conference-"Local Democracy for combating poverty and social exclusion” – September 27th – October 2th 2010, York – United Kingdom ;
9) week oflocal democracy ( 10-15 October) ;
10) local awareness-raising campaigns November 2010- January 2011;
11) students academic research on local democracy and democratic innovations (collecting and monitoring data, comparative analysis, handbook and resource tools for local governments) January 2011 - March 2011 .
In the following two months IAPSS will provide student associations and supporters around the world the informational toolkit for each action of the theme of the year. Join and support us expanding an international network for political science students and stimulating further the exchange of information and knowledge through organization and coordination of common projects and events.
This year the IAPSS Annual Academic Conference 2010 "Local Democracy for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion",is in the School of Politics , Economics and Philosophy of the University of York –United Kingdom. Our inquiry will fall within the framework of the 2010 European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion and has been chosen as a tribute to the European Charter of Local Self-Government.In fulfilling this aim, IAPSS AAC brings together students to share their local experiences and innovative schemes of the IAPSS 2010 Theme of the Year.The Club of PEP – which represents the student body of theSchool of Politics, Economics and Philosophy at the University of York (United Kingdom) –will face the challenge of hosting the IAPSS AAC. More information can be obtained in www.clubofpep.org
Our aim is to raise awareness among Political Science Students at the international level of the practical hinders involved in the attempt to raise political participation at the local level and how these can be observed through democratic innovations so as to combat social exclusion
Politikon publishes the best in undergraduate and graduate student scholarship from around the world. It is recognized globally for its position as one of the leading academic journals publishing the work of students from across the fields of political science .The Editorial Board of Politikon, the International Association for Political Science Students’ Academic Journal, invites graduate and undergraduate students to submit papers for review and possible publication in Vol. 16, No. 1. The Editorial Board will accept articles in the following months.Submissions should be emailed directly to
politikonjournal@iapss.org
. More information visit us at www.iapss.org
POLITIKON in 2010
Enjoy Politikon 15.2 at www.iapss.org/images/documents/politikon/politikon_15_2.pdf
POLITIKON – FEBRUARY 2010 – Online version.
POLITIKON – APRIL 2010 – Whirlpool politics: Water as a Global Challenge - Printed out version and Online version.
POLITIKON (Special Edition) - 2010 Local Democracy for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion - OCTOBER 2010 – Printed out version and Online version.
POLITIKON – NOVEMBER 2010 – Printed out and Online version.
A Different View is the IAPSS monthly news magazine. It draws together student-authored news and opinion articles on topics related to politics, current affairs and international relations. As well, A Different View publishes short academic articles with a maximum of 3000 words.
What are the goals of A Different View?
To publish an edition of the magazine every month
To draw on the talents of students from outside of traditionally strong IAPSS regions
To give politically-active students a voice and a chance to publish their work
To draw attention to current affairs and to provide interested people with a view on current events
Call for articles
If you have something to say about economic, political or legal developments around the world, if you feel there is an issue that other people should be aware of then submit your paper to the following e-mail address: adv.iapss@gmail.com
to view it
and
hnikoghosyan@gmail.com
The deadline for articles is the 20th of each month.
1) Cooperating with various organizations from different academics areas but also working in the Youth field.
- IAPSS wants to have positive influence on those organizations in order they to have more involved high school students in their organizing/working teams.
2) Contributing to the quality development of support systems for youth activities and the capabilities of civil society organisations in the youth field
3) Making Political science and Social Studies more attractive to the High School Students by :
- informning them about the existing opportunities in this particular field.
- Opportunities during studies, such as involment in different INGO’s and organizations, international conferences, interships, etc.
- Opportunities they might have after finishing their studies, such as job opportunities.
4) Improving English language learning
- some project working language is English.
- Students can improve their language skills by actively participating in the project.
5) Presenting the IAPSS Theme of the Year
-In 2010 introduce the importance of Local Democracy to High school students
-Organizing students simulations (UN, EU, etc) and guide study visits to public institutions.
Soon the exact dates of the event will be announced
IAPSS Open Learning Project aims to consolidate an international network of student organizations, faculties and institutions involved in Open Educational Resources initiatives, with the objectiveof dissemination and creation of a web-based open publications of university courses, conferences and journals related to Social Sciences .IAPSS Open Learning pilot projects in 2009-2010 aims to include four student association members to motivate their respective universities to participate in an Open Educational Resources initiative and cooperate by executing IAPSS Open Learning pilot projects in their own faculties during 2009-2010.
IAPSS will support Open Course Ware Consortium to for the development of www.studentocw.org in 2010. Students OCW initiative is about promoting the use/reuse/ derivates of OCW for learning and a platform for students making Open Course Ware Material. Student OCW will allow members of different student associations to get acquainted in the process of student-generated OCW, by using Student OCW.
IAPSS will develop a series of workshops in 2010 about student-generated OER in the IAPSS activities and invite representatives from other students associations. Contact us if your institutions wants to suppor the Open Learning initiative
International Association for Political Science Students
Kardeljeva ploscad 1, Ljubljana, 1000,Slovenia
phone:+386 1 5805388
fax: +386 1 5805378
e-mail: info@iapss.org
