Marian Lief Palley, political science and international relations and women's studies, participated in a workshop on understudied groups in advanced industrial democracies sponsored by the American Political Science Association (APSA) and funded by the Japan-United States Friendship Commission, this summer.

The workshop, held in Washington, D.C., was the first of a cross-cultural series on a wide range of topics that will give scholars on both sides of the Pacific the benefit of each other's experiences and perspectives.

Palley said APSA applied for the grant because "Japan and the United States share many attributes but also have striking differences..... Sharing different perspectives and experiences on a wide range of topics will be helpful and enlightening to scholars on both sides of the Pacific."

This first meeting was for political scientists who teach and write about women and politics.

Palley said five Japanese scholars and six American scholars worked together for three days looking at political behavior, political and social institutions and public policies as they relate to women in the two nations.

Palley, who directs the UD Women's Studies Program, will edit a symposium entitled "Women in Comparative Perspective: Japan and the United States," which will appear in PS: Political Science and Politics late in 2001. The article she wrote for the workshop, "Women and Politics in the United States," will be included in the symposium.

In addition, scholars agreed to continue their cross-cultural exchange with a listserv and a new organization called Japanese American Women's Symposium (JAWS), which will meet next year at the APSA conference in San Francisco.

–Barbara Garrison