AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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Report on Science and Human Rights

Summer 2005 Vol XXV, No. 1

Scientific Society Profile: American Chemical Society's Subcommittee on Scientific Freedom and Human Rights

Victoria Baxter

The American Political Science Association (APSA) is a professional organization of political scientists founded in 1903 that serves over 15,000 members in over 80 countries. APSA works to expand awareness and understanding of politics and to provide academic and professional exchange and networking among its membership. APSA has 34 organized sections, which are groups of members who share a common interest in a particular subfield of political science. The sections provide opportunities for networking of APSA members on specific issues or themes and to promote the development of the discipline through topical panels presented at the APSA Annual Meeting.

The Human Rights Section was formed in 2000 following a nearly two-year petition drive among APSA members. According to Association rules, when 200 APSA members sign a petition to signal their interest in joining an organized section, a section can apply for recognition from the APSA Council. A major part of the impetus for the petition drive was that scholars who worked on human rights had little institutional means to network with other APSA members on human rights issues and research or to present human rights-focused panels at the APSA Annual Meeting. Organized sections within APSA are allotted panels at the Annual Meeting based on membership and past panel attendance; given the high rejection rate for proposed panels, creating a human rights section proved crucial in increasing the number of human rights-related panels at the meeting.

The Human Rights Section differs from scientific freedom and human rights committees in other scientific societies, such as the AAAS Committee on Scientific Freedom and Responsibility or the American Physical Society's Committee on the International Freedom of Scientists, in that the Section does not play an advisory role to the Association and is not the institutional committee that develops APSA's positions and statements concerning human rights. The APSA is constitutionally non-partisan; its Council decides whether to adopt resolutions or take other action in support of academic freedom or freedom of expression with the Association, the profession, or the university. The Human Rights Section serves primarily to promote scholarly exchange, debate, and development among political scientists on the study of human rights in national and international politics.

For the past two years, SHR has been profiling the human rights work of AAAS affiliated societies in the Program's newsletter. For this edition, SHR spoke with APSA Human Rights Section President Michael Goodhart about the work of the section. Dr. Goodhart is an Assistant Professor of Political Theory at the University of Pittsburgh. According to Dr. Goodhart, some of the major human rights issues for political scientists include: measurement issues; conceptual questions, particularly relating to debates about whether human rights are universal or vary by culture; political transitions and transitional justice, including the mechanisms and policies successor regimes employ to redress past violence and injustice while working to consolidate rule of law and democracy; transnational and non-governmental organizations and their impact on human rights policies and practices; and, the diffusion of human rights norms nationally and internationally. These are just a few of the "big issues" in the field. These and other concerns often intersect with the work of other branches of political and social science.

The Section also provides resources on human rights to its members and other interested parties. The Section website provides a discussion forum for dialogue and for debate on research and substantive issues in human rights. The site also provides information about degree programs in human rights, upcoming related events, recent publications in human rights, and a newsletter that features Section activities and news. More information about the APSA Human Rights Section can be found on their website: http://www.apsanet.org/humanrights
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