South African Association of Political Studies SAAPS NEWSLETTER – September 2006

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Dear SAAPS Members and Other Interested Scholars

This newsletter, the last from me as President of SAAPS, comes to you on the eve of our 2006 SAAPS Biennial Conference.

Many of the events and developments that I note in this newsletter will feature at conference, which is to be held at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), 5-8 September 2006. The programme promises a vibrant and intellectually stimulating event. We look forward to seeing new and familiar faces, and hearing fresh and established voices!

I wish to thank all SAAPS members, Council members and in particular Secretary-treasurer, Dr Thabisi Hoeane, for their support and cooperation in the past two years. We have achieved many of our existing objectives. Conference will be the time for us to set new objectives, recruit project patrons with commitment to see through projects, and mobilise membership to continue the lively and growing support that we have witnessed in the past two years.

May SAAPS go from strength to strength!

SAAPS BIENNIAL CONFERENCE, 5-8 SEPTEMBER 2006, UWC This UWC conference promises to be the biggest in the history of SAAPS and its two predecessor organisations. At last count, there were over 130 paper proposals, both from South African and international scholars.

You may visit the UWC Political Studies and conference website on www.uwc.ac.za/ems/pols for updated information, including the programme. If you scroll down, you will find that you can also register on this site. The conference meetings mostly take place in the Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) Building, or in the adjacent Library Auditorium.

You are also specifically invited to the following conference events: o SAAPS Banquet, where the Annual Best Student Awards will be handed out (Thursday evening); o Special guest speaker, Moeletsi Mbeki (Thursday mid-day); o SAAPS Survey of the Discipline in South Africa (Roundtable Thursday); o Emerging Scholar Project (Roundtable Friday); o SAAPS Research Groups (to be launched at Conference); and the o Survey of ‘Teaching South African politics in South Africa’, which will be conducted with a view to advancing the SAAPS book project.

Our special thanks not only to Keith Gottschalk and his UWC colleagues for their dedication and enthusiasm, but also to UWC for the university’s support.

BEST STUDENT AWARD, 2005 We congratulate Lisa van Dongen (UCT) and Kate Orkin (UCT) for winning the SAAPS 2005 Best Student Awards, respectively for Honours and Third Year. The judges were unanimous in their decisions, but noted the exceptionally high standard of all of the entries. The HSRC book prizes will be awarded at the SAAPS conference banquet. On behalf of SAAPS, thank you very much to the four judges: Prof David Moore (UKZN Howard College), Prof Maxi Schoeman (UP), Dr Laurence Piper (UKZN Pietermaritzburg) and Dr Anthoni van Nieuwkerk (Wits PDM). Furthermore, both Lisa and Kate will be amongst the emerging scholars presenting papers at conference.

POLITIKON Applications for the new Politikon editorial term are now closed. We are in the process of convening the interview committee. The new editor will commence duties before the end of 2006, and will be responsible for the editing of the journal for two years. Outgoing editor, Dr Stephen Louw, has agreed to continue in this position for the time being. Our thanks go to Stephen for his professionalism, and for initiating the third annual issue.

ASSESSING THE ‘STATE OF THE DISCIPLINE’ Please take special note of the conference roundtable on ‘Reflections on the state of the discipline in South Africa’. Anthoni van Nieuwkerk and Susan Booysen will facilitate the session. Other participants will be Thabisi Hoeane, Shireen Hassim, Thiven Reddy, Janis van der Westhuizen and Chris Landsberg. We also look forward to the audience’s contributions. The session takes place on Thursday 7 September 2006. (For more details, see the July 2006 SAAPS Newsletter.)

DISCUSSION ON EMERGING SCHOLARSHIP At the forthcoming conference, SAAPS will also host a special session to survey and record the needs of emerging scholars in Political Studies in South Africa. Joelien Pretorius from UWC will conduct the session on behalf of SAAPS. We also thank Lubna Nadvi for preparing a brief survey document to help provide feedback on the topic. This document will be disseminated to emerging scholars at conference. We warmly invite you to make your voices heard!

SAAPS STUDY GROUPS Your conference folder at UWC will contain information on the to-be-launched SAAPS Study Groups. Anthoni van Nieuwkerk is in charge of this initiative.

CONFERENCE ELECTIONS Announcements of nominations for SAAPS office-bearer positions will be made at the SAAPS General Members’ Meeting, to be held on Friday 8 September 2006. Elections will be held either when more than one nomination are, or have been, received for a particular position, or when no nominations were received by the closing date of 24 August 2006.

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL AND UPDATE OF CONTACT DETAILS Secretary-treasurer Dr Thabisi Hoeane again requests SAAPS members to renew their membership. Thabisi will be at conference and will welcome your submission of membership renewals and applications. Thabisi can also be contacted on t.hoeane@ru.ac.za. We specifically invite hitherto non-members – including students and other emerging scholars – to become SAAPS members.

Please remember to notify the Secretary-treasurer of SAAPS of changes in your electronic or postal contact details.

With best wishes on behalf of the SAAPS Executive Committee

SUSAN BOOYSEN

Professor Susan Booysen President 2004-2006 South African Association of Political Studies (SAAPS)