Name
The Association shall be called the Australian Political Studies Association.
Aim
The aim of the Association is to promote the development of political studies in Australia.
Membership
Any person shall be eligible for membership.
Executive
The Association shall have an Executive Committee made up of the following persons :
- President
- Vice President
- Immediate Past President
- Secretary/Treasurer
- Three Ordinary Members
The Editor of the Association’s Journal, a member of the Women’s Caucus elected by that body, a member of the Standing Committee on International Relations and a postgraduate representative elected by that body shall be members of the Executive ex-officio.
The convenor and chairperson of the Executive Committee shall be the President unless the Committee decides otherwise. The quorum for Executive Meetings shall be three.
Of the three Ordinary Members of the Executive, not more than one shall be a Professor at the time of the election.
Terms
The term of office of members of the Executive Committee shall be three years.
The elected Vice-President shall be the President-Elect, to serve in their second year on the Executive as President and in their third year on the Executive as Immediate Past President. The office of President shall not normally be held for more than one year.
Elections
The Association shall, by secret ballot of the membership using an optional/preferential system conduct the following elections in the following rotation.
Annual at every Annual General Meeting :
- Elect a Vice-President/President-Elect. To reflect the long-standing APSA convention of gender diversity in the leadership of the association, the vice-president should have a different gender identification to the incumbent president;
- Elect one Ordinary Member for a three year term, in rotation (or elect up to three if there are no incumbents);
- If the President and/or Immediate Past President is not able to remain on the Executive Committee for the duration of their three year term, their position/s will go to an election in the same manner as the Vice-President/President-Elect.
Every third Annual General Meeting :
- Elect a Secretary-Treasurer.
Nominations
Nominations for the posts, accompanied by a one paragraph description of the candidate and their reasons for nominating, may be forwarded to the Secretary/Treasurer at any time before the AGM. These will be circulated to members at the conference to consider prior to the AGM. In the event of no nominations being received by the closing date, the Executive Committee may seek suitable candidates to present to the AGM for voting.
Annual Conference
There shall be an Annual Conference of the Association. The time and place of the any forthcoming Annual Conference shall be determined by an Annual General Meeting at least twelve months in advance.
The host university shall be responsible for the organization of the Annual Conference in consultation with the Executive.
General Meetings
The Annual General Meeting of the Association shall be held during the Annual Conference. The Executive may call other general meetings on the provision of notice of one calendar month to the members of the Association. The quorum for General Meetings shall be twenty (20) financial members.
Subscription
There shall be annual subscriptions of such sums as the Association may from time to time determine. Subscriptions shall be available in a number of different categories including ordinary member, student and retired member. Subscriptions shall be paid on a rolling basis.
Accounts
The Hon. Treasurer shall maintain accounts showing the income and expenditure of the Association, and present an audited statement at the Annual General Meeting.
Endowment Fund
The Association shall maintain an Endowment Fund equivalent to three times its annual turnover.
Withdrawals from the Endowment Fund Account can only be made on the joint signatures of the Honorary Treasurer and President after a resolution is passed by the Executive of a nominated sum; one half of the interest accrued from the Endowment Fund shall be reserved for capital maintenance and shall be retained within the Fund Account; the other half of the interest revenue from the Endowment Fund shall be available to further the purposes of the Association; an audited statement of the Endowment Fund Account shall be presented to the Association’s Annual General meeting; and these rules shall not be varied without a prior resolution from the Annual General meeting of the Association that endorses a written proposal to vary the rules from the Association’s Executive.
Journal
The Association shall publish a journal to be known as the Australian Journal of Political Science.
The Editor of the Journal shall be chosen by the Annual General Meeting for a term of three years. Before the expiry of an Editor’s term of office, it shall be the responsibility of the Executive of the Association to invite proposals from members of the Association who wish to be considered for the position of Editor, and to make recommendations to the Annual General Meeting.
It shall be the responsibility of the Editor to choose an Editorial Board and a Review Editor. The Editorial Board is to reflect the range of interests within political studies and is to assist the Editor in editorial policy and the administration of the journal.
Other Publications
The Association shall sponsor the publication of such other materials as the Executive may determine.
Alteration
This Constitution may be altered at a duly convened General Meeting of the Association by a simple majority vote of members present, on a motion of which notice has been given in writing to the Executive.
Approved by the AGM 1st October 2013; amendment approved at AGM 26 September, 2017.