CALL FOR PAPERS
The Western Political Science Association will host its 2011 annual meeting at the Hyatt Regency, River Walk, in San Antonio, Texas, from April 21 - 23, 2011. Please make plans to attend and encourage others to join us!

In May, the association will distribute a call for papers. The DEADLINE for submission of paper proposals/program participation forms will be September 24, 2010.

If you are interested in shaping the content of the program by serving as a section chair, please contact:

Manuel Avalos
Associate Vice Chancellor
Academic Affairs
University of North Carolina at Wilmington
601 S. College Rd.
Wilmington, NC 28403
e-mail: avalosm@uncw.edu

THE THEME FOR THE 2011 MEETING
TRANSNATIONAL BORDERS, EQUITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

As escalating demographic change and deepening economic recession collide, transnational borders have been caught in a perfect storm. Political institutions and public policy initiatives continue to close the gates of transnational borders into the United States. The politics of racial and ethnic identity, immigration, and economic development revert to survival mode where we becomes us versus them. How can we recharge our economy, keep our political institutions and policy vital without making equity, diversity and social justice central to what democratic government does?

We invite panel proposals that incorporate the conference theme and encourage disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to the politics taking place along transnational borders. It is hoped that one of the features of the conference will be dialogue between scholars working both within the discipline of political science and interdisciplinary fields of study on issues of equity and social justice along transnational borders.

This conference marks the first meeting by the WPSA in the state of Texas. San Antonio with its rich cultural and political history serves as the gateway to the Rio Grande valley and the border between the U.S. and Mexico. The conference site opens possibilities for greater international collaboration and dialogue in scholarship on borderland issues.

Note: All participants in the program are required to preregister for the meeting by early December.