The Caucus for a New Political Science (CNPS)
was first founded in 1967 as a caucus, and
then a formal section, within the American
Political Science Association (APSA).
APSA is the official professional organization
of political scientists in the United States,
with over 15,000 members worldwide.
CNPS’ membership rolls at present indicate
between 425-475 members.
The CNPS emerged to challenge the principal
of neutrality contained in the APSA by-laws
and to encourage political activism among
those in the profession.
Critics and supporters have characterized
the mission of the CNPS as explicitly political
and left in its orientation.
Critics have charged that CNPS was responsible
for negatively affecting the APSA in 1968
and 1969 with the challenge to association’s
commitment to political neutrality on public
issues of the day.
It is generally observed that CNPS was the
first section of its kind within APSA and
opened the door for the formal recognition
by APSA of a variety of sections dedicated
to more explicitly engaged scholarship.
Among those groups and caucuses that subsequently
sought and gained formal section recognition
within APSA are: Women & Politics; Race & Ethnicity;
Sexuality and Politics as well as affiliated
groups such as the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual
and Transgender group and The Labor Project.The
official mission of CNPS is “to make the
study of politics relevant to the struggle
for a better world.”
(apsa website) In 1971, the group incorporated
as the Caucus for a New Political Science
(CNPS) as a non-profit educational organization.
The group’s official name within APSA is
“New Political Science”.
The non-profit entity owns and operates the
peer-reviewed journal New Political Science:
a journal of politics and culture, published
by the Taylor & Francis Group.
The non-profit also sponsors public addresses
by prominent progressive public intellectuals
including Barbara Ehrenreich, Noam Chomsky,
Cornel West, Frances Fox Piven, Lani Guinier,
John Conyers, Barney Frank, Rashid Khalidi,
former AFL-CIO president John Sweeney, and
Michael Parenti.
The CNPS has also issued political positions
outside of APSA as a signatory on several
national campaigns defending intellectuals
and artists experiencing public criticism
and controversy such as Tony Kushner, Rashid
Khalidi and Frances Fox Piven.
== Philosophical origins ==
Established at the 1967 meeting of the American
Political Science Association (APSA), the
stated goal of New Political Science was to
provide alternative views to the behavioralist
school of thought that dominated APSA.
The CNPS sought to end official APSA restrictions
on resolutions on public matters, as well
as the institutional practice of not sponsoring
forums where members might analyze and debate
such matters as the Vietnam War.
Two political science professors and APSA
members led the campaign and then founding
of the Caucus.
H. Mark Roelofs, from New York University,
and Christian Bay from the University of Alberta
are credited with forming the ideological
basis of the organization.
Bay was a prominent scholar, best known for
his book The Structure of Freedom which presented
a critique of systems analysis and the prioritizing
of abstract concepts over the practical needs
of society.
The catalyst for Roelofs and Bay's formal
break with APSA emerged after several resolutions
(many involving the Vietnam War and other
public policy issues) were officially rejected
or tabled by the APSA executive committee
at the 1967 annual meeting in Chicago.
At the time, active discussion and the taking
of a position by APSA on the Vietnam War were
forbidden under Article II of APSA’s constitution.
The constitution stated that the association
would “not commit its members on questions
of public policy nor take positions not immediately
concerned with its direct purpose.”
== Within APSA ==
In 1969, two years after the controversial
1967 meeting, CNPS nominated a full ticket
of presidential and vice-presidential candidates,
as well as candidates for open Executive Council
and Nominating Committee positions.
The Caucus’ decision created an election
scenario without precedent in APSA, and it
was decided that it would be conducted by
mail, and administered by the American Arbitration
Association.The CNPS leadership continued
throughout the 1970s to run candidates for
executive offices each year, until 1979.
In each of those elections, the Caucus failed
to win the presidency, coming closest in 1972
when Peter Bacharach captured 49.5% of the
vote.
However, results would decline throughout
the rest of the decade and the Caucus ceased
to nominate candidates.
The failed bids to win executive seats caused
members to leave the Caucus, the most-prominent
being Alan Wolfe in 1971, and Theodore J.
Lowi a few years later.
Critics have suggested that CNPS has become
“just another interest group within APSA”
by abandoning its electoral challenges.
Others suggest CNPS helped transform the culture
of APSA opening the door for progressive sections
like the Women & Politics section, Race & Ethnicity
section, and the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual & Transgender
sections as well as affiliated groups like
the APSA Labor Project.
Separately, and sometimes in coalition, these
various groups have initiated and won several
APSA Executive Council decisions related to
the moving of the annual meeting based on
arguments that conditions in the city or hotel
in which the meeting is planned, presents
a disruptive or hostile environment to significant
portions of the membership.
== Journals: Politics and Society and New
Political Science ==
In November 1970, a group of Caucus members
created Politics and Society, a journal which
would become a major showcase of political
analyses through Marxist theory.
Changes in internal dynamics in 1973 led to
a new focus for the journal, and the 1976
departure of Alan Wolfe removed any connection
of the journal to CNPS.
By the late 1970s, a broadsheet entitled New
Political Science emerged, becoming an official
journal in 1979.
New Political Science has since become the
official publication of the Caucus.
== Today ==
The Caucus remains a forum for publication,
discussion, and the exchange of information
for young and established academics with progressive
political commitments.
The Caucus hosts an annual Saturday evening
plenary address at the Annual APSA Meeting
on public issues of controversy.
The CNPS also presents several juried awards
each year, including the Christian Bay Award
(best meeting paper), the Michael Harrington
Award (best book); Charles McCoy Award (career
achievement) and the Cloward & Piven Award
(for a deserving social justice organization
in the city in which the annual APSA meeting
is being held
