THE AFRICA/ASIA/LATIN AMERICA SCHOLARLY COLLABORATIVE PROGRAM

NEWSLETTER 3

Issued by:

APISA-CLACSO-CODESRIA

  And distributed for the information of:

 APISA: www.apisainfo.org

AAPS:www.aaps.org.za

CLACSO: www.clacso.org   

CODESRIA: www.codesria.org   

OSSREA:www.ossrea.net

SEACSN: www.seacsn.net

The South-South collaborative program was launched in 2005 by the leading social sciences research networks in Africa, Asia and Latin America, including: the Latin American Council of Social Science (CLACSO), the Council for Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), the African Association of Political Sciences (AAPS), the Organization for Social Sciences Research in East and Southern Africa (OSSREA), the Asian Political and International Studies Association  (APISA) and the Southeast Asian Conflict Studies Network (SEACSN). The full program is available in www.apisainfo.org, www.clacso.org, www.codesria.org.

The South-South program aims to:

• Develop comparative research cooperation among the scholars of the South, including their institutions.
• Enhance the production of knowledge that is suitable for fostering the development of alternative paradigms on development, democratic governance and peace building.
• Build a Southern-networked perspective on these critical issues, with the aim of feeding these into global debates in the social sciences.

The proposed activities of the South- South program are:

• Organization of nine comparative International Research Conferences (three per year, one in each region);
• Development of three Summer Institutes (one each year);
• Publication in English, French and Spanish of the Conference and Summer Institute proceedings in books, special issues of international journals, and occasional papers.

Thematic areas

From the assumption that common problems exist in the three regions, and considering the necessity to promote the use of new theoretical schemes and strategies of research for the accomplishment of rigorous comparative studies, the thematic areas to be covered in the three regions are:

• Democracy, Social Movements and Governance in the South.
• Rethinking Development.
• International Hegemony and the Countries of the South.

APISA, CLACSO and CODESRIA, were elected to serve as the lead institutions for the period 2005-2008. Steps will also be taken to recruit new additional institutional partners into the emerging network.

The leading institutions agreed that they will inform one another of their activities through a NEWSLETTER format.