International Initiative
| New International Initiative |
Founded in the United States 40 years ago, the Association has attracted people from all over the world. Over one quarter of the members and almost a third of the people recently elected to the Association's Board of Trustees come from outside the United States. Many scholars from outside the United States regularly attend our annual meetings. The Law and Society Association annual meetings provide a forum for scholars from many counties, and include regularly scheduled meetings outside the United States. At the annual meetings, a significant number of panels and roundtables deal with international and comparative topics. |
The international dimension is a major asset for the Association and all its members. Accordingly, the Association is now in the process of advancing a new international initiative. The initiative has two primary objectives: better access to LSA for scholars from other countries and expanded transnational collaboration. The first objective is to ensure that LSA is open and accessible to anyone from around the world who wants to work on social-legal issues. We seek to make it as easy as possible for such people to participate in the meetings and all other LSA activities and maintain our association as one venue for transnational communication. The second goal is to increase cooperation with other socio-legal associations and institutes. LSA believes that the field of socio-legal studies is becoming increasingly transnational and there is a need to increase the number of venues where scholars from many countries can meet and interact.
The Association's International Activities Committee presented an initiative to the Board of Trustees at the 2004 Annual Meeting in Chicago. The Board, with the enthusiastic support of the President, unanimously voted to approve the international initiative as follows:
The Board endorses the goals of the International Initiative and requests that the IAC take lead responsibility for producing an action plan for the next phase of the Initiative. The 2005-7 Action Plan should pay attention to such issues as membership, the organization of international activities, cooperation with other associations, and special plans for the 2006-7 meetings as well as other measures deemed necessary to carry out the Initiative. The plan should be submitted to the President for approval by December 15, 2004.
The core elements of the 2005-7 initiative are:
a) A campaign to increase international membership and to increase the number of international members on the various committees of the Association.
b) An effort to hold summer institutes outside the U.S
c) Expansion of the Collaborative Research Network program with special efforts to include international scholars and to engage in transnational topics.
d) Measures to make all LSA activities more accessible to scholars from outside the United states, including increased funding for the annual graduate student workshop, help with visa applications and , eventually, subsidy of travel to annual meetings through a newly founded travel grant program.
e) Appointment of Regional Coordinators who serve as the ‘long arm’ of the International Affairs Committee. RCs assist in liaison between LSA and socio-legal studies associations and centers, disseminate information about the LSA to socio-legal scholars, identify potential new members and enlist them, and facilitate participation by regional scholars in all LSA activities.
f) Enhanced cooperation with socio-legal studies associations outside the U.S., including a joint meeting in Europe in 2007 co-sponsored by RCSL and other socio-legal associations.
g) Movement of the 2006 annual meeting to July, in order to facilitate participation by non-US scholars. The Law and Society Association is currently committed to holding annual meetings outside the United States/Canada every five years (the prior ones being in Amsterdam, Glasgow and Budapest). We are currently working on site selection for the 2007 meeting, which will be in Europe, also in July.
Some steps toward realizing the initiative have already been
taken. Non-U.S. scholars are well represented on the Board of trustees and on
committees (including the chairing of two committees), two summer institutes
(2005 at Oxford and 2007 at Wits in South Africa) are scheduled to take place
outside the U.S., the 2007 annual meeting is scheduled to take place in Europe,
and a new international membership category has been established.
International scholars are invited to join the
Association as regular members or, if eligible, under the newly created special
international membership.
International members are encouraged to attend the annual meetings as general
participants, co-sponsors of CRNs, or on the basis of their particular national
and regional interests.
International
Membership Information
The LSA membership drive seeks to reach people in all countries.
For those who are citizens of, and reside in, countries classified as
A by the World Bank,
membership dues are set by income level in a scale based on U.S. dollars
(conversion from other currencies may be required). However, to
assist members from lower income countries, classified in
B & C by the World Bank, a new "Special
International Membership" category is offered. Eligible international
scholars may join the Association by paying a reduced annual membership fee of $20.
Member privileges are equal to those of all other members (e.g. they include
voting rights) with one exception: special international member will not receive hard
copies of the Law & Society Review, but instead will have free online access
to the Review through the Blackwell Publishers' site. Members in B & C
countries who wish to receive a hard copy of the Review may do so
by paying regular dues, which are based on annual income.
For a complete list of A, B & C countries and to find out whether the
international membership terms apply to you, please check
here.
To join LSA or to renew your membership, use the “Join or Renew as a
Member” link on the homepage site guide (left column) or click
here.
The Law and Society Association is exploring ways to provide limited travel support to annual meetings to members from low-income countries. To that end, LSA is seeking external funding and has also added a new check-off for voluntary contributions to the travel fund on its membership registration forms.
In its 2004 Chicago meeting, The Board of Trustees, acting on the recommendation of the President and the International Affairs Committee, unanimously resolved as follows:
The Board authorizes the creation of an international travel account to support travel to the annual meetings by scholars from outside North America who lack access to sufficient funds. This fund would be allocated by the IAC in accordance with criteria to be drawn up in conjunction with the President and Executive Office. Among the criteria to be included would be the income level of the country in residence, the expected contribution of the scholar to the annual program, and the relevance of the trip to the long-term work of the Association. To provide initial funding for the international travel account, the Board authorizes the Executive Office to add a check-off on the dues statement for contributions to this account. The Board encourages the IAC and the Task Force to seek contributions to the fund from external donors.
LSA hopes, but cannot guarantee at this point, that some funds will be available to help support travel to the 2006 annual meeting for non-US scholars who lack sufficient funds and who are actively engaged in a Collaborative Research Network. International members should check back to this page for updates on the availability of the fund. We must stress, however, that we do not know whether we will be successful in our fundraising efforts, or if we are successful, what degree of support we will be able to give.
Regional Coordinators are appointed by the President and assist in liaison between LSA and socio-legal studies associations and centers, disseminate information about the LSA to socio-legal scholars, identify potential new members and enlist them, and facilitate participation by regional scholars in all LSA activities. International members are advised to contact the relevant Regional Coordinator assigned to their world-region. Regional Coordinators may provide additional information about LSA and social-legal studies in the region, and may offer help and advice on issues related to both scholarly activities and administrative matters concerning the association.
Below please find the names and email addresses of the regional coordinators:
Leslye Obiora (Africa): obiora@law.arizona.edu
Setsuo Miyazawa (Asia): miyaset@aoni.waseda.jp
Kim Lane Scheppele (Russia, former USSR & Eastern Europe): kimlane@law.upenn.edu
Konstanze Plett (Europe): plett@uni-bremen.de
Rogelio Perez-Perdomo (Latin America): rperez@unimet.edu.ve
Dicle Kogacioglu (Middle East): kogacioglu@sabanciuniv.edu
John Braithwaite (Australia and Pacific) john.braithwaite@anu.edu.au