We wanted to let you know that the Theory Section Executive Board election has begun. Please find below the list of candidates, along with their statements and CVs.

Three positions are up for election this year: Vice-Chair/Program Chair, Publicity Chair, and Graduate Student Representative. The electronic ballot can be found on our official ISA website here: http://www.isanet.org/ISA/Sections/THEORY/Vote. Please remember to cast your vote by the deadline: January 31, 2017.

Please note that only members of the section will have their vote counted. If you are unsure about the status of your membership or if you are just a member of the listserv and would like to participate, please check your membership account at ISA (www.isanet.org) and either renew your membership or join us.

Candidates for Vice-Chair/Program Chair

Jacob Mundy (CV): It is a great honor to be considered for the position of Vice Chair/Program Chair of the board of the International Studies Association’s Theory Section. I am currently an Assistant Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Colgate University. My research focuses on understandings of mass violence and “foreign” involvement in armed conflicts. I draw heavily upon case studies and my own field work in Northern Africa. Critical approaches to security studies, area studies, postcolonial studies, geopolitics, and political economy all inform my work.

As a recently tenured academic, I believe that it is my duty to give back to the communities that have made my professional advancement possible. I also view service as an important way in which tenured colleagues can support the work of junior scholars in an environment of extreme austerity in the academy. Indeed, service has always been an important part of my professional life. Recently, I have started a three year term as an elected member of the board of directors of the American Institute for Maghrib Studies, where I have sat on committees evaluating multi-country research proposals and promoting the work of Libyan scholars. In the field of security studies, I have recently joined the advisory board of the War Seminar, a project that aims not only to rethink issues of mass violence and armed conflict, but also to rethink the staging of sustainable global academic workshops.

Given that the ISA Theory Section program chair will have a significant role to play in the construction of the 2018 ISA program, I look forward to the opportunity to construct and promote panels that will highlight the work of scholars that not only use theory in novel ways, but also panels that will rethink theory in novel ways as well.

Asli Calkivik (CV): I am honored to be nominated for the position of Vice-Chair of the Theory Section of the ISA. I received my PhD at the University of Minnesota and I am currently an assistant professor at Istanbul Technical University, Turkey. My research converges around two themes: contemporary politics of security, war, violence, on the one hand, and politics of knowledge production, disciplinarity, possibilities for decolonizing IR, on the other. I have been a regular participant at the annual conventions of the ISA for over a decade and have been affiliated with the ISA Theory Section as well as BISA’s Working Group CRIPT (Contemporary Research on International Political Theory) since their inception. When systemic and non-systemic forms of violence, inequalities, and every day horrors engulf global politics, I contend that international political theory has a crucial role to play with its power of challenging the boundaries of the given and making way for new possibilities in thought and action. If elected, I will do my best to contribute to the flourishing of ISA Theory Section as a crucial platform to grapple with these challenges by encouraging conversations among scholars across the theoretical spectrum and fostering interactions across disciplinary divides—cultivating dialogue between IR, humanities, social and political thought. I would keenly work towards enhancing the ongoing efforts to render IR Theory less parochial and further expanding the involvement of voices beyond the West in theorizing international politics.

Ilan Baron (CV): I am honoured to have my name put forward for the ISA Theory Section Vice-Chair. The ISA has been an incredibly important part of my academic life. I have regularly attended ISA conferences since 2007, and have benefited from ISA workshops and research support. This past year I was Chair of the Theory Section Paper Awards review committee and I am delighted at the opportunity to take on a greater role in the Theory Section.

I am a Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in the School of Government and International Affairs at Durham University. I have been a visiting Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, a Visiting Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute for International Relations at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a resident at the 2015 Oxford Summer Institute in Modern and Contemporary Judaism. I have taught previously at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, and was a post-doctoral researcher at the Institut Barcelona D’Estudis Internacionals, and the Centre for International Studies, London School of Economics and Political Science. I completed by PhD at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and my MSc in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. My work has always been at the intersection of International Relations and Political Theory. Theoretical work is, I would argue, more important now than ever, and If elected I will continue in the tradition of the Theory Section to offer a vibrant, intra- and inter-disciplinary, and intellectually stimulating programme for the ISA annual conference. I will also help develop the Theory Section, with the particular aim to further promote the importance of theoretical research and in strengthening the dialogue between IR scholars and political theorists.

Candidates for Publicity Chair

Abram Trosky (CV): As far as my motivations/aims/qualification for the position, I have presented at and/or chaired regional to international ISA meetings and have had outstanding experiences at each, particularly in meeting and conversing with other theorists. I wish to continue the good work of the theory section in reaching scholars from this and related subfields, recognizing accomplishments of junior and senior scholars, and promoting the relevance of these people and areas within and without the discipline and academia.

I envision a biannual newsletter that in addition to communicating section news and events to members, would also serve as a forum for continuing conferees’ conversations, facilitating collaboration, introducing publications and promoting future such. To this end, I bring an background marked by cross-discipline communication, extensive editing experience, and a stint as social media coordinator for Boston University’s Center for the Study of Europe. I look forward to bringing these talents and enthusiasm to the Theory Section Executive Board!

Marta Bashovski (CV): I am in the final year of my PhD in Political Science and Cultural, Social and Political Thought at the University of Victoria (UVic). My doctoral studies have focused on political theory (contemporary critical approaches, 20th century political thought, history of political thought) and international relations (particularly international relations theory and postcolonial/decolonial political thought).

I have co-organized several panels and roundtables at ISA in the past few years, most of which have been sponsored or co-sponsored by the Theory section. I consider the Theory section to be an important space for my development as a scholar and I would like to assist in promoting and community-building for section and member activities and events. In my time at UVic, I have organized a graduate critical theory conference, co-organized a visiting-faculty speaker series, and served as a student representative for my department’s program steering committee. In each of these roles, I have taken a lead in communications: circulating publicity, producing meeting minutes, and soliciting feedback. I believe that these experiences have prepared me well for the role of Publicity Officer for the Theory Section of ISA. I am excited about the opportunity to contribute to discussions about the future of teaching and scholarship in IR theory.

Candidates for Graduate Student Representative

Mariana Kalil: Mariana Kalil is a PhD Candidate in International Relations at the University of Brasília (UnB, Brazil). Former Latin America Representative at the ISA Global South Caucus ExCom (2013-2015), current member of the Advisory Committee, as well as Director of Communications (2015-2016)  for the same Caucus, her research focuses on International Relations Theory, specifically on Global IR. Author of Brazil’s Rise in the 21st Century: Ambitions and Difficulties in the book edited by co-author Jacqueline Braveboy-Wagner (Diplomatic Strategies of Nations in the Global South: The Search For Leadership, Palgrave, 2015), Mariana has been an active member of ISA, while in Baltimore she’s chairing a Presidential Roundtable on Global IR for senior voices from manifold geographical affiliations, besides organizing a joint sponsorship between the Theory Section and the Global South Caucus in a panel on the same issue but for young voices from Sweden to Colombia. In the Section, Mariana intends to unwearyingly represent the reality of Theory-focused Graduate Students in the developed, as well as in the Global Southern regions of the world.

Eric Van Rythoven (CV): As an active member for three years I believe in a vibrant and inclusive ISA Theory Section which supports graduate students and early career scholars.  As the Section’s Graduate Representative for 2015/16 I served on the Edited Volumes, Special Issues, and Symposia Prize Committee, called for prioritizing ISA Travel Grants for graduate students, and began a project to create an audio library for theory talks and roundtables.  This year I’d like to continue these efforts and focus expanding support for graduate students.  I am especially interested in supporting graduate students attending ISA from beyond North American and Western Europe.

Saira Bano (CV): I am a PhD candidate in Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies (CMSS) at the University of Calgary, Canada. My PhD dissertation, grounded in regime theory, analyses the India-United States Civilian Nuclear Agreement, and explores its implications for the nuclear non-proliferation regime. As a Graduate Student Representative I want to promote the interests of graduate students. It is important to encourage the interactions of students between different regions and across the theoretical spectrum that takes beyond its hitherto American and Western dominance to ensure diversity. I would also work to organize workshops and symposiums for students to promote theoretical research and debates on theory.