Australasian Political Studies Association

Draft Amendments to APSA Constitution

Motion to the Annual General Meeting of the Australian Political Studies Association, University of Melbourne, September 2010.

There is a proposal to amend the Constitution of the Australian Political Studies Association to:

• 1.      increase the term of office for Ordinary Members from 1 year to 3 years;
• 2.      increase the number of ordinary members of the Executive Committee from the current 2 to 3;
• 3.      specify that the Vice-President shall be the President-Elect and then the immediate Past President, with thus a term on the Executive Committee of 3 years.

The purpose of increasing the term of the Ordinary Members is that the current 1 year does not permit them enough time to carry out duties effectively for the organisation. They are elected at the annual APSA conference, and take part in one Executive Committee meeting during the year — then at the next conference their term expires.

The purpose of increasing the number of Ordinary Members is that the organisation would like to provide better services to its members. The current Executive Committee is not really large enough to have enough people to take on extra projects or tasks. There also appears to be increasing interest in serving on the Executive Committee from a new generation of enthusiastic political scientists, which is to be welcomed.

The purpose of specifying the transition from Vice-President to President to Immediate Past President is to formalise existing practice. This would require two coincidental amendments:

1. that in any given year only a Vice-President needs to be elected;  the President and the Immediate Past President are incumbents and do not need to be re-nominated; and ,
2. the person in this position is elected to the Executive Committee for a period of three years.

 Motions:

1.      To delete the following paragraphs of the Constitution under the heading ‘Executive’: 

‘The Association shall, by secret ballot of the membership using an optional/preferential system, elect the following members of the Executive: 

President

Vice President

Treasurer-SecretaryTwo (2) additional Members of the Executive, not more than one of whom shall be a Professor at the time of the election.

 

Nominations for the posts can be forwarded to the Treasurer-Secretary at any time up to the AGM. In the event of no nominations being received by the closing date, positions may be filled by the vote of financial members attending the Annual General Meeting.

The immediate past President and the Editor of the Association’s journal shall be members of the Executive ex officio.

A member of the Women’s Caucus shall be a member of the Executive.

The Executive shall include a postgraduate representative who shall be elected by members of the postgraduate body attending the Annual APSA Conference. 

The Executive shall appoint its own Chairman and Convenor. The quorum for Executive meetings shall be three.

 2.      To delete the following paragraph of the Constitution and its heading ‘All officers’: 

‘All officers except the Editor of the Association’s journal shall be elected for the period from one Annual General Meeting to the next. The President shall not normally hold office for more than one year.

 3.      To insert the following paragraphs under the heading ‘Executive’:

 Composition

The Association shall have an Executive Committee made up of the following persons:

• President
• Vice-President/President-Elect
• Immediate Past President
• Secretary–Treasurer
• Three Ordinary Members

The Editor of the Association’s Journal, a member of the Women’s Caucus elected by that body, and a postgraduate representative elected by that body shall be members of the Executive ex-officio.

The convenor and chairperson of the Executive Committee shall be the President unless the Committee decides otherwise. The quorum for Executive Meetings shall be three.

Of the three Ordinary Members of the Executive, not more than one shall be a Professor at the time of the election

Terms

The term of office of members of the Executive Committee shall be three years. 

The elected Vice-President shall be the President-Elect, to serve in their second year on the Executive as President and in their third year on the Executive as Immediate Past President. The office of President shall not normally be held for more than one year.

Elections

The Association shall, by secret ballot of the membership using an optional/preferential system conduct the following elections in the following rotation. Annually at every Annual General Meeting:

• Elect a Vice-President/President-Elect;
•  Elect one Ordinary Member for a three year term, in rotation (or elect up to three if there are no incumbents);
•  If the President and/or the Immediate Past President is not able to remain on the Executive Committee for the duration of their three year term, their position/s will go to an election in the same manner as the Vice-President/President-Elect.

Every third Annual General Meeting:

• Elect a Secretary–Treasurer.

Nominations

Nominations for the posts, accompanied by a one paragraph description of the candidate and their reasons for nominating, must be forwarded to the Secretary-Treasurer at least one week before the AGM. These will be circulated to members at the conference to consider prior to the AGM. In the event of no nominations being received by the closing date, the Executive Committee may seek suitable candidates to present to the AGM for voting.

4.      Transitional provisions

These provisions apply to the 2010 AGM only.

At the 2010 AGM nominations for election to the Executive Committee may be received up to and during the AGM, at any time prior to the vote being conducted.

At the 2010 AGM one Ordinary Member will be elected for a one-year term, one Ordinary Member will be elected for a two-year term, and one Ordinary Member will be elected for a three-year term.

Professor Alan Fenna - President 2009–10

Associate Professor Katharine Gelber - Vice-President 2009–10