APSA’s statement regarding President Trump’s executive order “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States”, was posted on APSAnet.org earlier this week.
We invite APSA members and the political science community to comment on the statement. Use the comment area that appears after the statement on this page.
January 30, 2017
The American Political Science Association (APSA) condemns the Executive Order issued on January 27, 2017, entitled “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States,” and strongly urges President Trump to rescind it. The order generates immediate and detrimental effects on colleagues and students with whom we teach, write, and collaborate. It undermines academic freedom in the most fundamental way by restricting the ability of scholars to meet, learn and exchange ideas on campuses of American colleges and universities. As scholars and teachers, we deplore the interruption of research, teaching, and intellectual engagement that this order causes.
The American Political Science Association is a scholarly association with over 13,000 members worldwide, including members who are residents and/or citizens of the seven countries affected by the immigration ban in the Executive Order. APSA brings together political scientists from all fields of inquiry, regions, and occupational endeavors within and outside academe to deepen our understanding of politics, democracy, and citizenship throughout the world.
As indicated in our vision statement, the APSA works to promote “scholarly understanding of political ideas, norms, behaviors, and institutions to inform public choices about government, governance and public policy”. The lack of full regard for liberal democratic norms and practices demonstrated in this Executive Order can deeply harm these scholarly understandings. We urge the President and the other federal officials to consider these and other scholarly understandings of the strengths and foundations of the United States’ political system and political culture when making decisions that may affect them, and we call on the President to rescind this order immediately.
As an organization, the APSA also stands ready to support any colleague who may be directly or indirectly affected by this executive order. If any APSA member is affected by this executive action, please contact us for any support or assistance we can provide. Visit this link for resources or to request support.
David A. Lake, President
Jennifer Hochschild, Past-President
Kathleen Thelen, President-Elect
Steven Rathgeb Smith, Executive Director
We are signing this statement of protest against the president’s executive order entitled “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States,” of January 27, 2017. It “suspends entry into the United States,” for various periods of time, of refugees, Syrian refugees, and “aliens” without green cards from seven nations. We offer three reasons for opposing this order:
As political scientists, we have committed our professional lives to the study of good governance, and the attainment of the widely shared values of human dignity, rights, and democratic engagement. Research by members of our discipline shows that people’s ability to move across borders has enabled the United States to thrive, that overreach by political leaders can undermine liberal democratic norms and practices, that hostile relations with nations with whom the U.S. is not at war can increase political violence and extremism, and that the separation of religion and state is a core commitment of the United States’ constitutional system. The executive order violates all of those established findings.
As scholars, we deplore this order’s interruption of research, teaching, and intellectual interchange at American colleges and universities. International exchanges are essential to good scholarship, and an important way for people of different cultures and political systems to engage constructively with one another.
As teachers, we deplore the interruption of study and engagement of students who are blocked by this executive order from classes at American colleges and universities. We are concerned about the order’s impact on the many students whose lives will be directly and indirectly affected by the ban. Furthermore, this executive order teaches all the wrong lessons to our students and those coming behind them: it conveys fear, anger, governmental overreach, discrimination, and false statements.
Therefore, we urge President Trump to rescind this executive order immediately. If he does not do so, we urge the Congress to override it, the courts to issue further stays, and Americans to protest the ban on refugees and Muslim-country residents. Political scientists’ research has shown that robust protest and political courage can offset the worst excesses of public officials; let us put that knowledge to use.
Melani Cammett, Department of Government, Harvard University
Daniel Carpenter, Department of Government, Harvard University
Grzegorz Ekiert, Department of Government, Harvard University
Frances Hagopian, Department of Government, Harvard University
Peter Hall, Department of Government, Harvard University
Jennifer Hochschild, Department of Government, Harvard University
Torben Iversen, Department of Government, Harvard University
Joshua Kertzer, Department of Government, Harvard University
Horacio Larreguy Arbesu, Department of Government, Harvard University
Steven Levitsky, Department of Government, Harvard University
Elizabeth J. Perry, Department of Government, Harvard University
Kenneth Shepsle, Department of Government, Harvard University
Sidney Verba, Department of Government, Harvard University
Cheryl Welch, Department of Government, Harvard University
Daniel Ziblatt, Department of Government, Harvard University
and add one more: Rod MacFarquhar! JH
I endorse the Harvard department’s statement regarding the president’s executive order on immigration.
We endorse the Harvard department’s statement regarding the President’s executive order.
Patricia Boling, Department of Political Science, Purdue University
Nadia Brown, Department of Political Science, Purdue University
Ann Marie Clark, Department of Political Science, Purdue University
Rosalee Clawson, Department of Political Science, Purdue University
Natasha Duncan, Department of Political Science, Purdue UniversityAaron Hoffman, Department of Political Science, Purdue University
David Johnson, Department of Political Science, Purdue University
Jay McCann, Department of Political Science, Purdue University
Manjana Milkoreit, Department of Political Science, Purdue University
Leigh S. Raymond, Department of Political Science, Purdue University
Josh Scacco, Department of Political Science, Purdue University
Harry R. Targ, Department of Political Science, Purdue University
S. Laurel Weldon, Department of Political Science, Purdue University
Additional Purdue Political Science Faculty endorsing the statement:
Kyle Haynes, Department of Political Science
A second addition to the list of Purdue Political Science Faculty endorsing the statement:
Mark Tilton, Department of Political Science
PRINCETON FACULTY (All political scientists, including some emerita faculty): ENDORSE STATEMENT
We are signing this statement of protest against the president’s executive order entitled “Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States,” of Jan. 27, 2017. It “suspends entry into the United States,” for various periods of time, of refugees, Syrian refugees, and “aliens” without green cards from seven nations. We offer three reasons for opposing this order:
As political scientists, we have committed our professional lives to the study of good governance, and the attainment of the widely shared values of human dignity, rights, and democratic engagement. Research by members of our discipline shows that people’s ability to move across borders has enabled the United States to thrive, that overreach by political leaders can undermine liberal democratic norms and practices, that hostile relations with nations with whom the U.S. is not at war can increase political violence and extremism, and that the separation of religion and state is a core commitment of the United States’ constitutional system. The executive order violates all of those established findings.
As scholars, we deplore this order’s interruption of research, teaching, and intellectual interchange at American colleges and universities. International exchanges are essential to good scholarship, and an important way for people of different cultures and political systems to engage constructively with one another.
As teachers, we deplore the interruption of study and engagement of students who are blocked by this executive order from classes at American colleges and universities. We are concerned about the order’s impact on the many students whose lives will be directly and indirectly affected by the ban. Furthermore, this executive order teaches all the wrong lessons to our students and those coming behind them: It conveys fear, anger, governmental overreach, discrimination, and false statements.
Therefore, we urge President Trump to rescind this executive order immediately. If he does not do so, we urge the Congress to override it, the courts to issue further stays, and Americans to protest the ban on refugees and Muslim-majority nation residents. Political scientists’ research has shown that robust protest and political courage can offset the worst excesses of public officials; let us put that knowledge to use.
Faisal Z. Ahmed
Gary J. Bass
Mark R. Beissinger
Charles R. Beitz
Nancy Bermeo
Carles Boix
Charles M. Cameron
Brandice Canes-Wrone
David B. Carter
Rafaela M. Dancygier
Christina L. Davis
Paul Frymer
Martin I. Gilens
Alisha C. Holland
Matias Iaryczower
G. John Ikenberry
Kosuke Imai
Amaney Jamal
Robert O. Keohane
Atul Kohli
Melissa Lane
Melissa M. Lee
David Leheny
Stephen J. Macedo
Nolan M. McCarty
Tali Mendelberg
Helen Milner
Andrew Moravcsik
Alan Patten
Philip N. Pettit
Marc Ratkovic
Jacob N. Shapiro
Anne-Marie Slaughter
Sarah L. Staszak
Anna Stilz
Ezra N. Suleiman
Rory Truex
Jennifer Widner
Lynn T. White III
Deborah J. Yashar
Dara Z. Strolovitch also endorses this statement.