Task Forces

The purpose of APSA task forces is to expand the public presence of the discipline of political science.  They do so mainly by (1) putting the best of political science research and knowledge at the service of critical issues that have major public policy implications and (2) sharing with broader society what political scientists know about important trends and issues in areas of public concern.

The following task forces are currently active:

• Task Force on Religion and Democracy in the United States, which will examine how relevant disciplinary knowledge can help Americans understand the role that religion plays in their public life, and consider both the opportunities and dangers to democracy that flow from the presence of significant numbers of citizens who possess strong religious convictions.
  
  
• Task Force on Political Violence and Terrorism, which will assess the contribution of political science to our understanding of how trends in civil violence, including the ways in which states respond to and/or instigate violence, affect domestic and international political order.
  
  
• Task Force on Difference and Inequality in the Developing World, which will assemble what political science knows about key global problems and find ways and means by which our scholarship might influence public opinion, shape discourse in the public sphere, and influence policy makers.
  
  
• Task Force on Inequality and American Democracy, which will
  share what political scientists know know about the ways in which recent trends in inequalities impact democratic participation and governance in the United States. The task force will also consider how changing patterns of participation and policy may influence inequality along various dimensions.  [Task force report: American Democracy in an Age of Rising Inequality (.pdf)]
   
  
• Task Force on Interdisciplinarity

Work of the following former Task Forces may also be referenced on this site:

• Task Force on Civic Education for the Next Century
  
  
• Task Force on Graduate Education, which will report on promising practices, important issues, and suggestions for innovations in the state of graduate education. [Task force report: Graduate Education in Political Science (.pdf)] 
  
  
• Task Force on Mentoring, which will foster efforts to mentor younger political scientists, both graduate students and younger faculty.