Program Chair:
Carrie Liu Currier Texas Christian University
c.currier@tcu.edu

Our 2026 conference theme, Democracy in Crisis: Challenges, Responses and the Future of Governance, offers a general framework to highlight the best new work across varied subjects, methods, theories, and pedagogies, addressing challenges, responses, and opportunities for the future of governance in both U.S. and global politics. A small number of panels and roundtables addressing these issues will be selected as Theme Panels, and will be featured prominently in conference materials.

Theme Panel Instructions. If you are proposing a full panel or roundtable, and your proposal is a good candidate for selection as a Theme Panel, please follow the usual submission process and then write directly to your section chair(s) indicating your interest in having your proposal designated as a theme panel. Section chairs will forward these requests to the Program Chair and may also nominate their own constructed panels and roundtables. In addition, the Program Chair will review the roster of completed panels, to identify other sessions which may qualify for this special recognition. Please contact Program Chair Carrie Liu Currier c.currier@tcu.edu or Julio Castilleja, Conference Coordinator, at info@wpsanet.org for more information.

Section Chair:
Brandy Jolliff Scott Illinois State University
bjscot2@ilstu.edu

The Comparative Politics section welcomes paper and panel submissions exploring the complex and dynamic landscape of contemporary politics. We are especially interested in research investigating the challenges and crises facing modern politics, as well as projects that envision potentially positive transformative outcomes. We encourage contributions across various topics including (but not limited to) democracy, dictatorship, regime transitions, accountability, representation, civil war, comparative political institutions (political parties, party systems, electoral rules, legislatures, courts, and central banks), political behavior (participation, voting, and social movements), comparative political economy, and methodology. We also encourage research analyzing the backdrop of recent and forthcoming elections and their global consequences, especially amid the growing influence of populism and nativism across elites and voters alike.

Section Chair:
Jonathan Benjamin Alvarado Texas Christian University
j.ba@tcu.edu

Theme Statement for 2026: This section invites papers or proposals for roundtable topics that critically examine the numerous challenges facing higher education today, including interference by external political forces that seek to delegitimize college campuses as a pillar of democracy, and eliminate diversity and equity policies. We also invite exploration of the backlash against campus protests, use of time, place, and manner policies, the plight of international students and the contested rights of students, writ large. Other possible topics include the rights and roles of contingent faculty, administrative growth, government interference in hiring and curriculum, federal cuts to research and student support, and the resulting budget challenges. Exploration of these issues or other relevant topics including innovative approaches and responses to these challenges in higher education are encouraged. Papers can be from any perspective or methodological approach, but we especially encourage papers and roundtable topics that examine the many perils currently facing higher education.

Section Co-Chairs:
Gregory Koutnik Beloit College
koutnikgv@beloit.edu Matthew Harvey Princeton University
mh3095@princeton.edu

The Environmental Political Theory section gathers together activists and scholars who are interested in how political theory contributes to larger political, policy, cultural, and intellectual debates about environmental issues, and in how our relationships with the natural world in turn shape politics and political theory. Attendance at environmental political theory events has grown enormously over the past two decades, and participants consistently are enthusiastic about continuing to develop this important intellectual community. Our welcoming community ranges from senior scholars to beginning graduate students. We seek proposals that employ the tools, texts, concepts, or insights of political theory to help understand human-nature relationships, environmental political debates, environmental activism, environmental justice, environmental policy, environmental ethics, the climate emergency, and intersections with topics like class, race, gender, sexuality, Indigeneity, coloniality, disability, capitalism, animal rights, technology, geography, and culture.

Section Chair:
Gemma Smith Universsity of Arizona
gemmasmith@arizona.edu

Theme Statement for 2026: We are in a particular moment of upheaval and uncertainty in environmental politics amidst global democratic backsliding. It is a moment in which we may ask what role do facts, scientific endeavor, and ourselves as academics play in shaping public opinion, policy, and the political process? How are environmental and climate goals progressing at all levels of government? What challenges are most prominent, and how are political, civic, and academic institutions rising (or not) to meet the moment? How are communities today defining and implementing resilience, adaptation, and justice? How are shifting domestic and international relationships reshaping the agendas and agreements of yesterday and tomorrow? Are there emergent opportunities in transition and transformation? How can we interpret the current landscape through different ways of knowing and in historical context? And what methods can best help us to engage with these questions and bridge the research to practice gap? We build on the conference theme as well as this section’s history of emphasis on intersecting justice issues to make a broad call for research that responds to this evolving landscape. The Environmental Politics Section provides a space for the academic community to engage in critical reflection and open dialogue on current debates in theory, empirics, methodologies, and praxis across a wide range of environmental issues. We welcome proposals for papers, panels, roundtables and workshops that engage with environmental politics across domains and geographies. We especially welcome those that resonate with the conference theme and those that integrate cross-cutting issues, take interdisciplinary approaches, or exhibit knowledge co-production and/or broader engaged scholarship.

Section Chair:
Lydia Andrad University of Incarnate Word
andrade@uiwtx.edu

Theme Statement for 2026: This section welcomes papers on executive politics on the federal, state, and local levels. We are encouraging scholars studying all aspects of executive politics. Topics of interest may include changes and developments in the Presidency and the executive branch in general, the relationship between state and local executives and the national government, as well as changes in public expectations for the chief executive and bureaucracy agencies. We welcome papers that discuss specific questions related to the current U.S. presidential administration and its impact on democracy as well as papers that explore the theoretical development in the study of executive politics.

Section Chair:
Jenn Jackson Syracuse University
jjacks37@syr.edu

Since Kimberle Crenshaw coined the term in the 1980s, much debate has existed about what intersectionality is and who it pertains to. Rather than examining discourses and structures such as gender, race, class, sexuality, (dis)ability, and nationality as separate and distinct dimensions of political and social life, we seek proposals that examine how they create what the Combahee River Collective called “interlocking oppressions.” We welcome paper and panel proposals that draw on a wide range of quantitative and qualitative methods, as well as a variety of social groups and contexts within the US and beyond. We especially encourage submissions on: the role of intersectionality in challenging and influencing the scope of institutional power; ways to further develop and push against existing disciplinary, epistemological, methodological, and theoretical boundaries; the relationship between theories of intersectionality and institutional, community, and activist practices; the salience and centrality of intersectionality in the study of political science; how intersectionality operates in the production and organization of normalized and deviant bodies; and the role of intersectionality at the transnational and global level.

Section Chair:
Hannah Paul University of Missouri
hannah.paul@missouri.edu

The last four decades have witnessed a dramatic increase in international migration throughout the world, raising important political questions in many countries. We seek paper and panel proposals from a wide range of scholars studying and analyzing the overlapping subjects of international migration and politics, immigration policy, immigrant integration policies and their implementation, political incorporation and "citizen-making," and the changing meanings and practices of "citizenship" in an era of heightened international migration. We seek proposals from scholars studying these overlapping subjects in a variety of settings, including global, national, sub-national, regional, municipal, using a variety of approaches, from single-state to comparative, and drawing on a variety of methodologies and methods. We would also welcome expressions of interest from those planning to attend the meeting who are not submitting papers on this topic this year but who have an interest and research background in it and would like to be involved as session chairs or discussants.

Section Chair:
Melanie Fillmore University of Oklahoma
melfillmore@ou.edu

This WPSA section focuses on Indigenous rights to self-determination and sovereignty. Indigenous peoples hold deep and continuous relationships to land and often have identities shaped by the ongoing processes of colonialism and settler-colonialism. We aim to serve as a space to foreground Indigenous politics, governance, and sovereignty and appropriate methodologies for research with Indigenous communities within the discipline.

We are committed to relational mentorship of incoming students of politics, governance, and sovereignty and creating a network of support for Indigenous political scientists. As the Indigenous Politics, Governance, and Sovereignty section in WPSA, we are committed to relationship building with the people Indigenous to the locations that host the WPSA Conference, including Indigenous or tribal leaders, advocates, and activists.

As a collective of scholars and students of Indigenous experiences of politics, governance, and sovereignty, we invite proposals on these and related themes: calls to action engaging local Indigenous/Tribal leadership, activists, and advocates; new books by Indigenous authors; challenges and innovations in methodology; support for Indigenous scholars; politics of Indigenous institutions; recasting representation and leadership; and Indigenous identity.

Section Chair:
Dmitriy Nurullayev University of Houston
nurullayev@arizona.edu

Theme Statement for 2026: Great Power Competition and the Crisis of the Liberal International Order. The international system is entering a period of profound uncertainty.

The era of U.S.-led liberal internationalism appears to be in retreat, challenged by the resurgence of great power rivalry and a significant shift in U.S. foreign policy. At the same time, democratic backsliding is accelerating—not only in emerging democracies but also in countries long considered anchors of liberal governance. These developments raise urgent and difficult questions. How will the international system evolve moving forward? What forms of order or disorder might emerge? How are international institutions adapting to these shifting dynamics? What role do domestic politics play in shaping the future of global governance?

This section welcomes papers that engage with the broad range of challenges currently facing the international community. Submissions may address any subfield of international relations, including (but not limited to) global climate change, international conflict, great power politics, terrorism, civil wars, gender and international relations, human rights, domestic politics and foreign policy, globalization, international trade, international investment, international monetary politics, and international organizations. We encourage a wide variety of methods and theoretical perspectives, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methodologies, as well as both critical and positivist approaches.

Section Chair:
Robin A. Harper York College and CUNY Graduate Center
rharper@york.cuny.edu

The Interpretation and Methods Section focuses on expanding the interpretivist paradigm of research that guides various empirical methods.

The paradigm of interpretivism derives from phenomenology and hermeneutics as well as critical theory, feminism theory, critical race theory, critical legal studies, pragmatism, symbolic interaction theories, and ethnomethodology. Although diverse in their modes of generating and analyzing data, research processes in the interpretive tradition are united by an empirical and normative prioritizing of the lived experience of people in the research settings. The Interpretive paradigm has informed various subfields like public policy, IR, comparative politics, and American politics.

The section invites submissions for papers, panels, and roundtables on various methods informed by the interpretivist tradition. These methods include, but are not limited to, ethnography, discourse analysis, narrative analysis, semiotics, visual analysis, oral history, intersectional feminist analysis, hermeneutics, phenomenological research, and participatory action research. Given the interpretive paradigm, this section is not a good space for traditional positivist political research or traditional political theory of canonical and contemporary texts.

Papers may critically analyze the theoretical and philosophical traditions and presuppositions that inform interpretive empirical inquiry, address the practical challenges of conducting interpretive empirical research, or examine the interpretive methodological questions and assumptions or interpretive methods procedures raised by a specific political topic. Papers may also discuss how interpretive inquiry can provide valuable insight into current pressing political matters, e.g., state, racial, and sexual violence, global health pandemics, environmental policy and politics, cyberpolitics, political polarization, and the political mobilization, organizing, and representation of marginalized communities.

We especially encourage proposals that address this year's conference theme. We also invite individuals to indicate their willingness to serve as session chairs and/or discussants even if they do not submit paper or panel proposals.

Section Chair:
Jordan Carr Peterson University of Tennesee
jpeter22@utk.edu

The section welcomes papers or panels that investigate the role of legal actors and legal institutions in the United States or comparative contexts as well as those that explore how politics, institutions, and ideas shape and constrain the law's development. We particularly encourage proposals that address the theme of the conference. We hope to receive proposals with diverse theoretical, practical, and methodological perspectives using a variety of approaches, from the conventional to the creative. The section welcomes panel proposals that offer opportunities for participation by a mix of senior scholars, early career scholars, and graduate students. When proposing book panels, consider submissions that include more than one book, and submissions that link the work of an established scholar with the work of an emerging scholar.

Section Chair:
Josh McCrain University of Utah
Josh.McCrain@utah.edu

The section welcomes papers on any topic related to the study of the U.S. Congress, state legislatures, or other legislative institutions. Topics might include party polarization in Congress, the role of committees comparatively across time and institutions, representation, leadership, rules, procedure, reform, policy making, budgeting, floor behavior, historical development, and race/ethnicity in legislative institutions. Papers on the conference theme exploring how Congress and legislatures will affect or be affected by the rapid changes in society and worldwide events would be especially welcome. What will the role of legislatures be navigating the turbulent times we are in? Proposals that take advantage of variation across countries, across time within a single legislature, or across sub-national legislatures will be especially welcome as well as papers analyzing the influence of lobbyists, executive branch, or bureaucracies.

Section Chair:
Brian Calfano Iatakoo, Inc.
briancalfano@hotmail.com

The section invites proposals for innovative and original research at the intersection of politics and communication, broadly conceived. The section welcomes all research methods and analytical approaches that advance understanding of the practices, processes, and policy implications of political communication in all its forms. Preference will be given to proposals that connect research with fundamental questions about politics. This includes but is not restricted to: investigations of structural and economic influences on political news content, media and campaign effects, the relationship between mass media communication and elite communication, comparative examinations of media and media systems, effects of media coverage on racial stereotyping, regulation of the media, discrepancies between news reporting and real-world events, and the impact of new media on political knowledge and behavior. Proposals for papers or panels tackling methodological and theoretical challenges in the study of political communication are of particular interest.

Section Chair:
Scott Siegel San Francisco State University
snsiegel@sfsu.edu

Theme Statement for 2026: Political movements, interest groups, and parties are key actors responsible for why democracy is in crisis but also for saving it. On the political right, social movements bring together diverse groups to mobilize voters and anti-systemic groups to challenge liberal democracy and civil institutions. They are also increasingly the state’s agents to implement its anti-liberal policies, blurring the boundaries between the public and the private. Social movements on the political left are countermobilizing against rightwing movements as well as against government policies that target marginalized communities. Both types of movements use classic and innovative tactics to spread their messages and recruit members, such as public marches, sit-ins, strikes, as well as digital and media campaigns.

Political parties and interest groups interface with these social movements in new ways that may be challenging their own autonomy, relevancy, and ability to defend democratic institutions. Political polarization, which some argue is the product of the interaction of social movements, interest groups, and socio-economic structural change, is forcing political parties to adapt their messages and policy agendas, change their candidate recruitment strategies, and alter their voter mobilization efforts. As a result, political parties have become both the culprits of democratic backsliding but also sometimes stopping democracy from slipping further backward.

The section on Political Movements, Parties, and Interest Groups seeks submissions for papers, panels, and roundtables that engage the conference theme of democracy in crisis regarding social movements, interest groups, and political parties and their interaction. We encourage proposals that investigate their role in democratic backsliding and resistance. In particular, we welcome proposals that cover diverse regions and that use diverse theoretical, empirical, and methodological strategies.

Section Chair:
Mary F. (Molly) Scudder Purdue University
scudder@purdue.edu

Theme Statement for 2026: This section welcomes proposals in applied political theory, broadly understood. What do our theories reveal about the world? What, in turn, does the world tell us about our theories? Given this year’s theme of “Democracy in Crisis,” how can political theory clarify the specific challenges and reveal potential responses to the erosion of democratic norms. We encourage proposals for papers that not only diagnose current political challenges, but also illuminate possible paths forward. Many papers in this section will combine empirically and theoretically grounded insights to guide the pursuit of normative ideals. More than ever, we need insight into how informed policy decisions, alternative institutional designs, and democratic norms can shape the future of governance. Works that draw on unexpected or unconventional sources, explore lesser-known dimensions of political life, or situate contemporary events within broader theoretical debates are particularly welcome. We encourage members to submit both full panel proposals and individual paper proposals.

Section Chair:
Nandini Deo Georgetown University - Qatar
nandinideo@gmail.com

Theme Statement for 2026: The Political Theory: Critical and Normative Theory section of the WPSA actively seeks proposals that engage with the overarching conference theme of Democracy in Crisis. We are particularly interested in critical and normative theoretical approaches that illuminate the global dimensions of democratic erosion, the rise of populism, deepening political polarization, and the resurgence of authoritarianism.

We welcome diverse theoretical perspectives, including decolonial theory, feminist theory, democratic theory, Africana/Black political theory, liberalism, Marxism, critical disability theory, political aesthetics, Indigenous political theory, comparative political theory, legal theory, critical race theory, and queer theory. Proposals should explore how these frameworks help us understand and respond to the contemporary challenges facing democracies worldwide. We are especially keen on comparative analyses that examine how these dynamics manifest across different political contexts.

We are interested in papers that develop contemporary perspectives on enduring theoretical concepts as they are challenged or re-articulated in the context of democratic crisis. And we are eager to see proposals that bring a theoretical lens to the impact of artificial intelligence on the practice of democracy. We seek theoretical engagements with the resilience of democratic institutions, the impact of populism and nationalism on political inclusion, the challenges to fact-based discourse, how global power struggles shape the future of democracy, and frameworks for resisting political pressures that threaten to erode our institutions and academic freedom.

Section Co-Chairs:
Christopher Berk George Mason University
cberk@gmu.edu Claire McKinney William & Mary
cmckinney@wm.edu

This section welcomes proposals in historical political thought, broadly conceived. How have past thinkers grappled with enduring political challenges? What can earlier traditions, texts, and debates teach us about power, legitimacy, justice, and freedom? In an era marked by democratic backsliding, epistemic crisis, and shifting geopolitical orders, returning to the history of political thought can sharpen our understanding of the present and expand our sense of what is politically imaginable.

Aligned with the conference's overarching theme, we encourage proposals that explore questions of institutional resilience, forms of governance, and dynamics of mass and elite politics in times of crisis. We especially welcome work that connects historical analysis to contemporary political dilemmas, illuminating how inherited ideas continue to shape and constrain our collective life. Proposals that draw from non-Western traditions, engage neglected archives, or bring historical insights to bear on questions of political design and democratic possibility are particularly encouraged.

Section Chair:
Ann-Marie Szymanski University of Oklahoma, Norman
ams@ou.edu

The section welcomes proposals for papers or panels covering the broad scope of the study of politics, policy, and institutions using historical perspectives to address issue areas of contemporary concern. In particular, the section encourages submissions from scholars whose work focuses on developmental themes related to major political processes, including institutional reform and policy change, and concepts such as democratization, citizenship, political representation, and political parties. While much of the work on institutional change focuses on elite actors, we also welcome studies that illustrate "state-building" from below, whether through social movements, litigation, media campaigns, or otherwise. We especially encourage research that locates American political development in comparative and historical frameworks and that addresses the intersection of major group identities, such as race, class, gender, and religion.

Section Chair:
Agatha Slupek Western Michigan University
agatha.slupek@wmich.edu

Theme Statement for 2026: This section welcomes proposals for papers, full panels, author-meets-critics sessions, or roundtables at the intersection of politics and aesthetics, broadly conceived. Drawing on the conference theme of democracy in crisis, we welcome proposals that examine how practices of aesthetic sense-making enable us to confront crisis, breakdown, and what Hannah Arendt called the problem of the new in politics. How do the arts (literature, poetry, performance and theater, film) help us to expand our capacity to perceive the world as possibly otherwise? How have the arts helped human beings understand political crises not only in the present moment, but throughout history? Do different genres encourage particular kinds of feminist and anti-racist imagining?

Finally, this section welcomes proposals that reflect upon the 50th anniversary of the publication of feminist aesthetic texts such as Hélène Cixous’ “The Laugh of the Medusa,” Adrienne Rich’s “Of Woman Born,” and Alice Walker’s “Meridian,” among others. How might we reflect on the half century since their publication and what do feminist and queer approaches bring to the aesthetic problems of politics, including the problem of the new, the problem of voice and voicelessness, and the problem of appearance?

Section Chair:
Patrick Miller Kent State University
pmille62@kent.edu

The section welcomes proposals that address the conference theme by considering the changing status of sexuality and gender identities in the United States and globally. We are especially interested in papers that take an intersectional approach to the location of LGBTQI people at the fault lines of recent political contests. Among the wide range of topics worthy of exploration are the ever-shifting terrain of LGBTQI rights developments (e.g., anti-trans legislation in the U.S.), fluctuations in societal attitudes toward sexuality and gender, LGBTQI movement organizing, backlash and opposition to such movements/rights (e.g., the growing momentum of “gender ideology” around the world), the nature of sex work in the global political economy, and public health crises and their disproportionate impact on queer communities. Additionally, work exploring new frontiers in pedagogy and research that centers sexuality and gender identity in the profession is also welcome.

Section Chair:
Laura Landolt Oakland University
landolt@oakland.edu

Following the gendered challenges of the pandemic and the rise of policies rolling back the achievements of women’s movements, women are facing profound political crises and challenges. However, in recent years, women have also risen to meet those challenges. For example, women’s movements have been reinvigorated following the election of Donald Trump, #Me Too, and the fall of Roe v. Wade. In the US, women have elected record numbers of women and women of color to office. Building on these themes and the broader WPSA call for papers, we seek proposals that examine these developments through the lens of feminist theory, women’s political participation and behavior, women’s movements and organizations, and/or women’s representation. We are open to proposals from a wide range of theoretical and methodological approaches.

Section Chair:
Amy Sentementes Queens University of Charlotte
sentementesa@queens.edu

Theme Statement for 2026: This section welcomes proposals related to public opinion at the micro and macro level, including but not limited to papers and panels that asses the elements that shape political preferences, as well as those that explore how public opinion influences public policy and political behavior among elites and the mass public. Additionally, this section appreciates proposals that assess how psychological factors facilitate the processing of political information, the manner in which individuals respond to the current political context, and in turn, the opinions they form while engaging with their respective political environments. Papers and panels that address the conference theme of “democracy in crisis” are especially welcome. Submissions that analyze how political identities develop, shape perceptions of democratic norms and institutions, and facilitate political polarization will elucidate the broader concerns we aim to address at the conference. Further, proposals that focus on psychological constructs like personality and emotions also are appreciated.

Section Chair:
Stephen Ceccoli Rhodes College
ceccoli@rhodes.edu

Section Chair:
Melissa Michelson Menlo College
melissa.michelson@menlo.edu

Theme Statement for 2026: Race, ethnicity, and politics scholarship continues to be essential to understanding all dimensions of political life. In 2025, we are navigating an especially volatile period marked by accelerating challenges to democratic institutions alongside renewed grassroots efforts to reclaim and reimagine democracy. As scholars and citizens, we are grappling with the expanding influence of authoritarian governance, the intensification of culture wars, and the growing contestation over basic civil and human rights. These dynamics raise urgent questions for students and teachers of politics—questions that demand critical engagement with the meanings, practices, and futures of democracy.

For this year’s conference, we invite proposals that address the complexity, crisis, and potential of the present moment. We seek work that critically engages with how race and ethnicity shape—and are shaped by—political institutions, social movements, and policy regimes in this era of profound transformation. How are racial and ethnic political traditions offering alternatives to dominant partisan frameworks or models of citizenship? What are the intersectional implications of recent legal and legislative attacks on reproductive rights, trans and queer lives, and ethnic studies programs? How can we confront and counter the backlash against DEI, especially in higher education, government, and philanthropy? In what ways are Indigenous knowledge systems and cultural practices informing political resistance, environmental justice, and collective healing in settler-colonial contexts? What lessons can we learn from Black feminist praxis, abolitionist politics, and Afro-futurist visions for building liberatory futures amid climate collapse and democratic backsliding?

We welcome proposals grounded in racial and ethnic politics from a variety of local, national, and transnational perspectives. All methodological approaches are encouraged.

Section Chair:
Evan Crawford University of San Diego
ecrawford@sandiego.edu

Theme Statement for 2026: WPSA’s call for papers highlights questions about the stability, resilience, and the future of democratic governance. This year we are especially interested in papers, panels and roundtables that explore these themes through research on federalism or state, local, and urban politics. Questions as to how state and local governments differ in their response to threats to democracy are ripe for examination, as are those focused on non-state actors operating at the state and local level, such as civic organizations, unions, and interest groups. We encourage submissions that tackle a wide array of questions utilizing diverse methodologies such as comparative, historical, interpretive, and quantitative approaches.

Section Co-Chairs:
Peter Yacobucci Buffalo State University
yacobupr@buffalostate.edu Patrick McGovern Buffalo State University
mcgovepj@buffalostate.edu

The section welcomes proposals on all topics related to educating both undergraduate and graduate students. Proposals could explore such topics as advising, assessment, civic engagement, curriculum development, diversity within the classroom, educational goals, experiential learning, applied learning, internships, pedagogic responsibilities, service learning, simulations, teaching strategies, and technology. The focus may be on pedagogic practice or the scholarship of teaching and learning. Qualitative, interpretive, quantitative, theoretical, or philosophical approaches will all be considered.

Section Chair:
Amy Friesenhahn Texas Women’s University
afriesenhahn1@twu.edu

Undergraduate students are invited to present posters on research they are conducting under the supervision of their Political Science faculty advisors. Any topic appropriate to the political science discipline - broadly conceived - is welcome.

Section Chair:
Nick Pyeatt Penn State Altoona
nlp11@psu.edu

The section welcomes panels and papers on topics related to important theoretical, substantive, and/or methodological issues dealing with electoral behavior in the United States and from a comparative perspective. Among others, topics could include campaign effects, election forecasting, campaign finance reforms, media effects, alternative voting technologies, voter registration, mobilization/get-out-the-vote efforts, turnout, and vote choice. We especially welcome papers that propose novel theories and present new data/analyses on voting behavior in recent elections. The section invites papers that additionally center race, ethnicity, and identity in their study of election dynamics in the United States and across the world.

Section Co-Chairs:
TBD

The Asian and Pacific Islander American Caucus (APAC) and the WPSA Status Committee for Asian Pacific Americans in the Profession invite you to submit individual paper, full panel, and roundtable proposals to the mini-conference on Asian and Pacific Islander American politics (typically held on Friday).

We encourage submissions from scholars whose work centers the lived experiences of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in America and transnationally, as well as works that are attentive to the intersectionalities of race, ethnicity, indigeneity, immigration history and status, gender, sexuality, class, religion, and/or other dimensions of identity and structural inequality across various topics in political science. Scholarship that works with and for the communities interrogated is also encouraged.

To submit your proposal, please select “Mini-Conference: Asian Pacific American Conference” as your first choice in the drop-down menu of the Request to Participate form. In addition to various types of submission opportunities, we also welcome volunteers for chairs and discussants. Please also kindly inform us if you have submitted a proposal on APA politics but did not check the mini-conference as your first choice.

Section Co-Chairs:
La Della Lyn Levy College of Southern Nevada
ladella.levy@csn.edu Rogelio Garcia East Los Angeles College
garciar3@elac.edu

2026 Mini-Conference Theme: Teaching in Tumultuous Times: Academic Freedom, Policy, and the Vital Role of Community Colleges

Background:

Conference Description: In an era marked by political polarization, legislative pressures, and growing threats to academic freedom, community colleges face unprecedented challenges in upholding their mission of accessible, equitable education. This mini-conference will examine how institutions can navigate this complex landscape while safeguarding pedagogical integrity and fostering inclusive learning environments.

Through critical dialogue, we will explore:

• The impact of censorship, First Amendment debates, and policy encroachments on teaching and learning.
• Strategies to defend academic freedom while engaging with diverse perspectives.
• The vital role of community colleges in promoting democratic values, equity, and intellectual inquiry amid societal divisions.

The WPSA Community College Committee invites proposals for presentations, panels, workshops, and interactive sessions that explore critical challenges and opportunities in political science education.

We seek dynamic discussions on the following themes:

Defending Academic Freedom in Higher Education

• How can faculty and institutions resist threats to academic freedom?
• Strategies to protect open inquiry, dissent, and intellectual diversity in politically charged climates.

AI in Political Science Pedagogy: Faculty & Administrative Perspectives

• Best practices for integrating AI tools ethically and effectively in teaching and research.
• Balancing innovation with academic integrity in the age of AI.

Strengthening Political Science in the Curriculum

• Policy and pedagogical approaches to expand political science education.
• Engaging students in civic learning amid polarization.

Higher Education’s Role in Advancing Political Science

• How can colleges foster rigorous, inclusive political science programs despite external pressures?
• Case studies of institutions successfully navigating political challenges.

Confronting Censorship in Political Science Teaching

• Strategies to uphold free expression and critical discourse in the classroom.
• Navigating legislative and institutional constraints on curriculum.

We welcome creative formats, including collaborative workshops, roundtable discussions. Proposals from full-time, adjunct faculty, teams, and students are encouraged.

Submission Guidelines:

• Proposals should be no more than 500 words and should include the following information: Title of Presentation/Panel/Workshop
• Author(s) Name(s) and Affiliation(s)
• Abstract outlining the content and key takeaways
• Format (e.g., individual paper, panel discussion, workshop)
• Audio/visual needs (if applicable)
• Submit proposals electronically to: Submit your proposals to the WPSA submission page and select “Section 30: Mini-Conference: Community College.”

Submission Deadline: The DEADLINE for submission of paper proposals/program participation forms will be Friday, September 26, 2025.

Please note: All participants in the program are required to preregister for the 2026 WPSA meeting by December 31, 2025.

Section Co-Chairs:
Paul Schuler University of Arizona
Pschuler@arizona.edu

Theme: TBD

Section Co-Chairs:
Matt Hodgetts Case Western Reserve University
matthew.hodgetts@case.edu Anatoli Ignatov Appalachian State University
anatoli@appstate.edu Katie Young University of Hawaii, Hilo
youngkat@hawaii.edu

The Environmental Political Theory (EPT) group gathers together scholars and activists who are interested in what political theory can contribute to larger debates and intellectual discussions about environmental challenges. Since 2002, we have hosted a daylong workshop (generally, 9am-5pm) on the Wednesday before the WPSA annual meeting begins. Workshop sessions enable participants to share their projects and scholarship, to discuss pedagogy, and to address shared challenges. Past workshops have also invited local authors and activists to share their work and hosted walking tours and other forms of community engagement. A detailed agenda will be posted in advance. A group dinner will be planned for Wednesday evening.

Section Co-Chairs:
Annie Menzel University of Wisconsin, Madison
acmenzel@wisc.edu Judy Rohrer Eastern Washington University
judy.rohrer@ewu.edu

We invite nominations for books and/or recent or forthcoming articles for discussion at the Feminist Theory Pre-Conference Workshop in April 2026. Our workshop embraces a wide range of approaches in feminist theory, including explorations of race, gender, sex, migration, decolonization, environment, sexuality, ability, and class in discussions of freedom, justice, order, sovereignty, autonomy, kinship, rights, democracy, liberalism, nationalism, the state, militarization, war, peace, and other topics.

To nominate an article and/or book, please submit the author/title of your nomination and brief rationale to acmenzel@wisc.edu AND judy.rohrer@ewu.edu. You can make multiple nominations in one email.

Section Chair:
TBD

Section Co-Chairs:
Robin A. Harper York College and CUNY Graduate Center
rharper@york.cuny.edu Natasha Behl Arizona State University
natasha.behl@asu.edu David Forrest Oberlin College
david.forrest@oberlin.edu

Theme: TBD