(Please forward paper proposals to Kurt Mills at [log in to unmask])

Apologies for multiple postings...

I am planning on putting together panels on the following topics for the
2003 International Studies Association annual meeting. More information
on the conference and the official call for papers can be found at:
http://www.isanet.org/portland/.

The deadline for submissions to ISA is June 1. Given that, please e-mail
me your paper proposals ASAP. If you have already submitted an
individual paper to ISA which might fit in one of these panels, I'm sure
we can deal with that--just send me all the info. Your paper proposal
should include a 150 word abstract and all contact info (including
summer and fall contact info if you will be moving). Also, offers to
chair and/or serve as discussants are welcome (note: ISA guidelines
preclude graduate students from being discussants).

Kurt Mills
Politics Department
Mount Holyoke College
(413) 538-3083
[log in to unmask]
http://homepage.mac.com/vicfalls



The complex power and dependencies of nonstate actors

The world is becoming ever more complex. States are finding it difficult
to keep up with all of the demands put on them. The most developed
countries don't want to intervene in most of the conflicts in out of the
way places around the world, although they are under constant
international pressure to do so. Developing states find they don't have
the resources to respond to all the needs of their citizens or, indeed,
of the significant refugee and other migrant populations many countries
find themselves saddled with. Many countries thus turn to NGOs and other
nonstate actors, either to provide them with resources or to carry out
elements of their foreign policies. And, sometimes international NGOs
intrude in areas of domestic and international that states may not want
them to. The question thus arises: how does these dynamics affect
nonstate actors? Are they just the lackies of states, given that they
are frequently so dependent on them for money and other resources? Or
does the dependency of states on these actors create some sort of power
and maneuvering room for these actors? This panel will examine these
questions, looking at humanitarian, development, and other nonstate
actors.

Are international norms really norms?

The current US national security advisor, Condoleeza Rice, in a 2000
Foreign Affairs article, derided the idea of "illusory" international
norms. Certainly the current administration has demonstrated little
regard for the whole idea of international norms and law. Yet, there
have been instances where it has backtracked and changed policy
direction (at least somewhat) after certain norms (such as the Geneva
Conventions) have been deployed by the international community. This
raises the question of the power of such norms. If the most powerful
country in the history of humankind seems to deride the whole idea of
norms, can they really said to have any real force? On the other hand,
if the same hyperpower appears to feel their oppression at times, what
does this say about their existence and power? In other words, are
international norms, norms? What does this mean? These questions tie in
with the theme for next year's conference: "The Construction and
Cumulation of Knowledge." For, given all of our talk about international
norms, they are still very slippery things. We might say, "I know a norm
when I see it." But this is rather unsatisfying. How can we say a norms
exists, particularly when so many states seem to violate it? This raises
all sorts of epistemological and theoretical questions. Papers from a
variety of theoretical perspectives and issue areas are welcome.


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