Mobilizing Democracy Democracy holds out great promise. Theorists have posited that people who live in democracies are freer to express their preferences and that officeholders are more likely to respond to these preferences; that in democracy there is more room for meaningful debate and deliberation; and that under the proper conditions democratic decision-making will produce fair and just social outcomes. Researchers have demonstrated that people who live in democracies, on average, earn higher wages, are freer to form organizations, enjoy a broader range of public services, are less likely to go to war and to suffer from famines, and enjoy more responsive governments than do people who live under non-democratic regimes. Yet it is clearer today than it has been for decades that the struggle for democracy is ongoing: the struggle to defend its basic institutions from encroachment and decline in established democracies, and the struggle to achieve it at all in still-numerous countries and regions around the world.

The theme of the 2005 APSA meeting is Mobilizing Democracy. With this theme the Program Committee encourages panels and papers on a range of topics that shed light on the following sorts of questions. What kinds of reforms are likely to allow elections to accurately and legitimately express pubic preferences, in established and new democracies alike, and what political coalitions are likely to bring about such reforms? How do the mechanics of voting influence electoral outcomes, and what produces changes in these mechanics? What methods for establishing electoral districts avoid extremes of mal-apportionment and encourage competition, and how ought competing notions of representation inform these systems? When cross-border conflicts are played out less between states and more between states and non-state forces with some capacity to threaten states' security, how can democracies respond without lowering standards of civil liberties and international norms of human rights? How do fledgling democracies balance pressures to participate in international coalitions, reduce barriers to trade, and conform to the criteria of international financial institutions while also responding to the aspirations of their citizens? What is the role, empirically or normatively, of collective actors and organizations such as labor unions, social movements and corporations in democratic politics? Can democratic institutions be introduced from abroad and flourish in deeply divided societies? Finally, can democratic institutions flourish in societies with few democratic traditions? In the following pages, the 2005 Division Chairs clarify their calls for proposals which seek papers addressing these themes and compelling questions from the perspective of their areas of specialization.