Washington, DC - The American Society for Public Administration, the nation’s leading professional association for public service, today announces its enhanced commitment to international scholarly engagement with the release of a new report,
“Meeting the Challenges of International Engagement.”
Developed by the ASPA President’s Committee on International Scholarly Engagement, chaired by Mary-Lee Rhodes of Trinity College and Alasdair Roberts of University of Massachusetts Amherst, the report recommends that scholarly organizations make clear the core values that guide their international engagement and take steps to ensure the values are embedded within their decisionmaking processes. ASPA’s governing body, the National Council, has endorsed the committee’s report, adopted its recommendations and integrated them into its processes for engaging internationally.
“The challenges of engagement are growing, not shrinking,” observed Roberts during a recent presentation at ASPA’s 2023 Annual Conference. “What tends to happen is that we react to controversies rather than anticipating them, and sometimes we fail to treat cases with consistency. We’ve established a number of core values that are important to guide these decisions and recommended that organizations have a mechanism for thinking about how they weigh the values and make decisions about engagement in a transparent and reasoned way.”
The key values described in the report are:
- Promoting dialogue and understanding.
- Protecting academic freedom.
- Respect for human rights.
- Supporting the development of scholarly capacity.
- Respect for the self-determination of communities.
- Protecting the safety and dignity of colleagues.
- Accuracy, fairness and transparency in decisionmaking.
ASPA’s National Council found the key values to be fundamental to effective and principled international engagement, as well as inextricably linked to ASPA’s four core values of accountability and performance, professionalism, ethics and social equity. The Council also found the values to be embedded within one or more of its Code of Ethics’ principles. The values will be a key lens and consideration through which the Society’s will view its programs, decisionmaking and partnerships in the future, including when:
- Making decisions related to conferences and events.
- Evaluating prospective international partnerships.
- Approving formal relationships with non-U.S. organizations.
“I asked Alasdair Roberts and Mary-Lee Rhodes to co-chair this committee and look at how ASPA can think about interacting with those in places where academic freedom and freedom of speech are either limited or under considerable threat,” stated Allan Rosenbaum, ASPA’s immediate past president who established the committee. “This report is already gaining traction with related good governance organizations around the world for its significance.”
“I am grateful to the committee for its work, as well as to Al Roberts for his thoughtful feedback about how we, as an organization, can move forward with these recommendations,” said ASPA Executive Director and CEO Bill Shields. “I look forward to implementing these key values within our decisionmaking processes, and to working with our leadership to engage thoughtfully, deliberately and strategically about our international programs, now and in the future.”
“We all gain valuable perspectives when we partner with organizations and individuals in other countries,” stated ASPA President Patria de Lancer Julnes. “But potential partners may be in countries with regimes where our values collide. Rather than making a harsh decision, this report provides a roadmap for thoughtful deliberation about how and when to pursue mutually beneficial collaboration.”
The full report is posted online, including a feedback mechanism for those with questions or comments about the organization’s engagement activities. More information will be posted to the website in the weeks ahead.