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SASP 2011

I am happy to announce that Macquarie University's offer to host the annual SASP conference in 2011 in Sydney has been gratefully accepted.

Lucy Johnston

(President)

Call for Papers/Participation

The 3d Annual Workshop on Public Leadership is taking place on 26 and 27 November 2009 at University House, Australian National University. The Workshop is co-sponsored by the Research School of Social Sciences and the Australian New Zealand School of Government. It offers a platform for academics and practitioners to discuss research in progress and share personal experiences and insights on a variety of leadership-related topics. It aims to cover a broad variety of public leadership forms, e.g. in political parties and legislatures, governments, the public service, non profit organizations, social movements and the mass media. The workshop is explicitly multi-disciplinary, and its past sessions have brought in political scientists, sociologists, historians, social psychologists, international relations experts, and mass communication scholars. The past two editions have resulted in collaborative publications, e.g. Public Leadership: Perspectives and Practices (ANU E Press 2008) and How Power Changes Hands: Studies in Leadership Transition and Succession (Palgrave, 2010), both edited by workshop convenors Paul ‘t Hart and John Uhr.

SASP 2009 President's Address: Professor the Hon Kim Beazley AC

ENGAGING THE ISLAMIC COMMUNITY – IS OBAMA THE MAN TO CROSS THE FAULT LINE?

President Obama has declared an end to the “War on Terror.” That phrase has been expunged from the official rhetoric. Expunged too the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay and some smaller clandestine prisons elsewhere around the globe. No interrogation techniques will be tolerated that approach torture.

To the Muslim world generally he said in Istanbul last week: “America’s relationship with the Muslim community, the Muslim world, cannot and will not be based upon opposition to terrorism. We seek broader engagement based on mutual interest and mutual respect. We will listen carefully, we will bridge misunderstandings, and we will seek common ground. We will be respectful, even when we do not agree. We will convey our deep appreciation for the Islamic faith which has done so much over the centuries to shape the world – including in our own country. The United States has been enriched by Muslim Americans. Many other Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim majority country – I know because I am one of them”.

Whatever power there is in the spoken and written word, Obama’s presidency seeks to supercharge it.