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Serendipity and International Experience in Political Science: The Bulgaria/Southern Illinois University at Carbondale Connection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Albert P. Melone*
Affiliation:
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale
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Abstract

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Type
News
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association 1994

References

Notes

1. The political scientists included Roy Miller, Leland Stauber, and myself. The three participating law professors are Patrick Kelley, Wenona Whitfield, and Dean Harry Haynsworth. Charles Klasek is the SIUC official in charge of International Programs and Economic Development.

2. I am unclear about the publication stage and status of this volume. We have discovered that one of the difficulties in writing for publishers in Bulgaria is the lack of certainty about deadlines.

3. Political scientists David Derge, Michael Esler, John S. Jackson, Diane Schmidt, and myself are contributors. The SIUC law professor contributors include Jill Adams, Keith Beyler, Maria Frankowska, Patrick Kelley, Thomas McAffee, and William Schroeder. The book is: Frankowska, Maria and Melone, Albert P., eds., The Legal System and American Constitutional Democracy (Sofia, Bulgaria: St. Kliment Ohridski University Press, 1993).Google Scholar

By the way, cooperation between political scientists and law professors proved so successful that a joint grant proposal was prepared by the deans of the College of Liberal Arts (John S. Jackson) and Law School (Harry Haynsworth) and funded by the USIA for the summer of 1993. This time 19 young political scientists and law professors from around the world spent six weeks on campus steeping themselves in the scholarship of American politics and government.

4. Uday Desai and Keith Snavely have twice visited Bulgaria. They are also responsible for bringing to the SIUC campus several Bulgarians who are pursuing M.P.A. degrees.

5. When working in Bulgaria it becomes evident that schedules are not always observed. My piece touted as the lead article of a new journal was scheduled for release in January 1993. As of December 1993 it has not been published. However, in fairness I have had similar experiences with U.S. publishers. The piece is titled “Creating a Civil Society: The Twin Traps of Mass Society and the Iron Law of Oligarchy,” Civil Society Journal vol. 1, no. 1, 1994. In Bulgarian.

6. This piece was presented at the 1993 Interim Meeting of the Research Committee on Comparative Judicial Studies, International Political Science Association, St. John's College, Santa Fe, New Mexico, August 1–4, 1993. It is titled: Bulgaria's National Roundtable Talks and the Politics of Accommodation: Creating the Conditions for a Peaceful Transition to a Democratic Constitutional System. This piece has been accepted for publication in the July 1994 issue of International Political Science Review.