Japan–America Women Political Scientists Symposium (JAWS) Held Sixth Symposium in Washington, DC

For a decade, dozens of political scientists who study gender and politics in Japan and the United States have been sharing their research on women in politics. With support from the Japan–U.S. Friendship Commission and Washington College, APSA's Japan–America Women Political Scientists Symposium (JAWS) held its sixth symposium in Washington, DC, and Chestertown, Maryland, from August 28 to September 4, 2010. The program was organized by Melissa Deckman of Washington College. Ten Japanese scholars and nine U.S. scholars participated in the workshop, which was the largest gathering of JAWS to date.

Participants pose in front of the Custom House at Washington College in Chestertown, MD. Front row (L to R): Chieko Kitigawa Otsuro, Eriko Hamada. Second row: Marian Lief Palley, Melissa Deckman, Joyce Gelb, Misako Iwamoto, Makiko Habazaki, Hiroko Takeda, Naoko Oki, Julie Dolan, Peggy Donnelly. Back row: Hiromi Tanaka-Naji, Kaori Suzuki, Ki-young Shin, Kathryn Pearson. Not pictured: Tokuko Ogai, Karen O'Connor, Michele Swers, Alisa Gaunder.

The theme of workshop was “Gender, Politics and Policy: Post-Elections,” which examined major political and policy developments that have occurred in the wake of the national elections held in the United States in 2008 and in Japan in 2009. The 2008 U.S. elections brought major changes to national government when a Democrat, Barack Obama, was elected to the White House and the Democrats increased their hold on both houses of Congress. Meanwhile, in Japan, as a result of the 2009 elections, the long-running ruling Liberal Democratic Party lost control of the Diet. In both nations, a record number of political women ran for national elective office, and a record number won. Participants in the DC meeting focused on the impact of gender on the election outcomes in both nations and how gender has influenced politics in both nations since those elections.

JAWS has been an important networking tool for young scholars. It has helped to build a strong cadre of comparativists on the topic of women and politics. Previous JAWS participants from Japan have indicated that their participation in the workshop series has resulted in publications and has raised their profiles in the discipline.

For more information about the Japan–America Women Political Scientists Symposim (JAWS), please visit: http://www.apsanet.org/~jaws.

APSA Sub-Saharan Africa Workshops Series

APSA is pleased to announce that it has received a continuation grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to carry on its annual Africa workshop series for an additional four years. The initial grant funded workshops in Dakar, Senegal (2008), Accra, Ghana (2009), and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (2010).

The workshop series is a key part of APSA's commitment to encouraging the development of research networks linking U.S.-based and international scholars and expanding political science communities outside the United States.

For more information about the workshop series, please visit: http://www.apsanet.org/~africaworkshops/.