The PSA Specialist Group on Political Activism (SGPA) has no formal membership. Instead, its membership is ad hoc, consisting of whoever participates in its activities within PSA. The SGPA is part of the wider Network of Activist Scholars of Politics and International Relations (Naspir), which also has a presence within the British International Studies Association (the BISA Naspir Working Group).

The SGPA has its own forum space on the new Naspir website launched in September 2007 at:
http://www.naspir.net/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,17/func,showcat/catid,18/.

The PSA kindly contributed £750 to the costs of the SGPA joint conference on ‘Civil Rights, Liberties and Disobedience: Alternatives to Governance in the 21st Century’, held at Loughborough University, 27-28 July, 2007. The conference Convenors were Alex Prichard, Michael Mulligan (both Loughborough) and Eric Herring (Bristol). 14 papers were presented and there were 26 participants. The conference was held jointly with and supported by the Centre for the Study of International Governance (CSIG), Loughborough University, the PSA Anarchist Studies Network and the Campaign Against Criminalising Communities. The Department of Politics, IR and European Studies at Loughborough provided further support. The conference report can be viewed here:
http://www.naspir.net/component/option,com_fireboard/Itemid,17/func,view/id,38/catid,18/

For information, Naspir’s 2007 annual report is reproduced below.

Eric Herring
(PSA SGPA Convenor)
9 April 2008
Department of Politics, University of Bristol. eric.herring@bristol.ac.uk


ANNUAL REPORT 2007

Network of Activist Scholars of Politics and International Relations


NASPIR, BISA AND THE PSA

Naspir is a network which has a presence within BISA (the BISA Naspir Working Group) and the PSA (the Specialist Group on Political Activism).

MEMBERSHIP AND EMAIL/DISCUSSION TRAFFIC

The BISA Naspir Working Group and PSA Specialist Group on Political Activism have no formal membership. Instead, their membership is ad hoc, consisting of whoever participates in their activities within BISA or the PSA. NASPIR more broadly has 427 registered users of its email discussion list http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naspir/ and 121 registered users of its new website and forum facilities http://www.naspir.net which were launched in September 2007.

Membership is free and is open to anyone, academic and non-academic, who endorses our stated purpose. Those who wish to can join via the Yahoo list or the naspir.net website. We have members around the world and across academic disciplinary boundaries. We are scholars, students, non-academic activists and interested citizens, with theoretical, empirical and/or campaigning interests.

During 2007 up to the end of November, there were 315 posts to the Yahoo list and 73 to the new naspir.net forums. The email list and forum archives are public. Activity included:
- publicising numerous relevant conferences, lectures, seminars, journal calls for papers, campaigns, internships, summer schools, PhD studentships, academic posts, research fellowships, films, petitions;
- requests for information related to research; and
- discussion of a wide range of issues.

The most popular articles on the naspir.net website received around 900 hits during 2007, the most popular article being the one on the launch of the new journal Critical Studies on Terrorism.

STRUCTURE AND DECISIONMAKING

We have in the past had a Steering Group elected annually, around the beginning of each calendar year which has varied in size over the years. At present we do not find one to be necessary as we operate in a decentralised way and have a minimal number of formal positions – Convenor Eric Herring (University of Bristol); Moderators Eric Herring and Doug Stokes (University of Kent); and Webmaster Bill Stevens (SCS Web Design). The Steering Group will be reinstated if it is thought that would be valuable. We anticipate having Treasurers in 2008 – Eric Herring and Ruth Blakeley.

We have been able to develop without a proliferation of rules and procedures. Central to this achievement has been our willingness in nearly all cases to abide by the following rule, acceptance of which is a condition of membership: members must not insult each other or question their motivation or character, and must focus in a calm, rational, non-abusive manner on the issue and not the person.

We have four collective decision-making procedures:
1. Forum deliberation. Members have shown admirable reasonableness in discussing issues and finding ways forward together that take into account differences of opinion.
2. The 7 day no objection procedure: a member may propose something and if there is no objection within 7 days, the proposal is adopted. This tends to be used for items which are not particularly urgent or controversial.
3. The 3 day no objection procedure: a member may propose something and if there is no objection within 3 days, the proposal is adopted. This tends to be used for items which are urgent but uncontroversial.
4. Voting using our poll facility. This has been used relatively rarely and when deliberation has not produced an agreed way forward.

RELATED ORGANISATIONS

Naspir members have been involved in establishing a number of successful related organisations in the last few years, including the Consortium for the Study of Terrorology and Political Violence, BISA Critical Studies on Terrorism Working Group and the PSA Anarchist Studies Network Specialist Group. Naspir members continue to play key roles within them.

BISA ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2007, CAMBRIDGE

Naspir held the following roundtable at the BISA conference:
1.5) [ROUNDTABLE] GLOBALISATION, FRAGMENTATION AND IRAQ (NASPIR w/grp)
Convenor: Eric Herring (Bristol)
Chair: Doug Stokes (Kent)
- Paul Rogers (Bradford)
- David Chandler (Westminster)
- Barry Gills (Newcastle)
- Tarak Barkawi (Cambridge)
- Eric Herring (Bristol)

Anna Stavrianakis (Sussex) also presented a paper on ‘Tools of the Trade: UK-Based Activists and NGOs' Attempts to Use the Law to Control Arms Exports’.

In addition, the BISA Critical Studies on Terrorism Working Group, which is convened by Naspir member Richard Jackson and which has overlapping membership with Naspir, ran the following two panels:

3.9) CRITICAL APPROACHES TO 'ISLAMIC TERRORISM' (Critical Studies on Terrorism w/grp)
Convenor: Richard Jackson (Aberystwyth)
Chair: Bob Brecher (Brighton)
- Corinna Mullin (LSE) The Impact of the 'Ideologisation of Terror' Paradigm on the Study of Political Islam
- Miguel S. Luparelli Mathieu (Madrid) Conceptualising Jihadist Action
- Jeroen Gunning (Aberystwyth) Implications of the Critical Terrorism Studies Debate for the Study of Hamas
- Ludmilla du Bouchet (Cambridge) The Security-Development Nexus': Counter-Terrorism and the Imperative of Institutional Reform in Yemen
- Roland Dannreuther (Edinburgh) Russian Conceptualisations of Islamic Terrorism

4.9) THEORISING 'TERRORISM' (Critical Studies on Terrorism w/grp)
Convenor: Richard Jackson (Aberystwyth)
Chair: Eric Herring (Bristol)
- Richard Jackson (Aberystwyth) Explorations of the (Non)Ontology of 'Terrorism'
- Sam Raphael (King's) The Emergence of Critical Terrorism Studies: Mapping Out the Field
- Harmonie Toros (Aberystwyth) Towards a Critical Theory Understanding of Terrorism
- Bob Brecher (Brighton) Torture, Fantasy and the 'War on Terror': Some Implications for the Idea of Terrorism

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE

The BISA Naspir Working Group has almost zero running costs and hence no budget – and no Treasurer - at present. However, Naspir agreed that Ruth Blakeley and Eric Herring should set up a Naspir account with the Co-operative Bank: the first steps towards carrying this out have been taken. BISA kindly agreed to fund Jo Wilding’s £43 return rail fare and to waive her one day conference attendance fee so that she could appear on one of our panels at BISA in Cambridge. The cost of NASPIR’s new professional-standard website was funded by member donations. Its cost was limited by the fact that the website designer carried out the work for well below commercial rates due to his endorsement of Naspir’s purpose. The small annual fee for webspace is also funded by member donations.

The PSA kindly contributed £750 to the costs of Naspir’s PSA Specialist Group in Political Activism joint conference on ‘Civil Rights, Liberties and Disobedience: Alternatives to Governance in the 21st Century’, held at Loughborough University, 27-28 July, 2007. The conference Convenors were Alex Prichard, Michael Mulligan (both Loughborough) and Eric Herring (Bristol). 14 papers were presented and there were 26 participants. The conference was held jointly with and supported by the Centre for the Study of International Governance (CSIG), Loughborough University, the PSA Anarchist Studies Network and the Campaign Against Criminalising Communities. The Department of Politics, IR and European Studies at Loughborough provided further support.

NEW WEBSITE

Key features of the naspir.net website are:
· Exceptionally good forum facilities.
· By clicking on 'Favourite' in a forum thread, you will automatically be sent an email copy of any new post to it.
· Easy creation of content by members. This is a fully Web 2.0 site, which means authorised members can suggest, add and edit site content, and we provide full step-by-step guidance so that you do not need any technical knowledge.
· Each article on the site has an automatic forum thread creation link.
· Extensive, informative and constantly-expanding guide to links. We aim to keep a sharp eye out for all the new websites that are really worth knowing about.
· A full range of dedicated free facilities for Naspir Communities. Groups within Naspir can have their own resources, links, forum, bottom-up member network and items in the events calendar.
· Showcasing our work in the member homepages section (currently 26 in total). Members are engaged in an impressive range of high quality activist scholarship and wider activism.
· In addition to our material for activist scholarship, we provide access to key mainstream resources, including links and full information in the events calendar on the main conferences and their deadlines. If we are going to remake the mainstream, we need to be connected to it.

ACTIVIST SCHOLARSHIP BY MEMBERS

An overview of the activist scholarship of Naspir members can be seen by viewing the naspir.net website and especially its member homepages.


Eric Herring
(Naspir Convenor)
9 April 2008
eric.herring@bristol.ac.uk