Nomination Procedure for the Executive Committee

Adopted by the International Committee of the IAHR on May 24, 1998 in Hildesheim, Germany; revised to accomodate constitutional changes adopted by the General Assembly of the IAHR on August 12, 2000 in Durban; revised by the International Committee of the IAHR on August 18, 2010 and adopted by the General Assembly of the IAHR, following the adoption of a revised constitution, on August 21, 2010 in Toronto.

  1. Nominating Procedure

    1. The nominating procedure is set up in Article 4.c of the Constitution of the International Association for the History of Religions.

  2. Nominating Committee

    1. A Nominating Committee is appointed by the Executive Committee as stipulated by Article 4.c of the Constitution.

    2. The Nominating Committee is composed of five senior colleagues who no longer seek office. The members of the committee are chosen in view of their close knowledge of the IAHR and their wider knowledge of international scholarship. The members of the committee are also chosen in terms of gender and regional representation.

    3. The members of the Nominating Committee shall appoint one of its members as the Chairperson of the committee. The Chairperson has the responsibility of guiding the work of the committee and of communicating its nominations to the International Committee.

  3. Nominations

    1. "A Nominating Committee, appointed by the Executive Committee, shall submit nominations for the next Executive Committee to the members of the International Committee by mail not more than twelve months and not less than nine months prior to each quinquennial congress." [Article 4.c of the Constitution].

    2. The nominations may be accompanied by a brief recommendation for the nominations.

    3. The nominations shall be made public by the Secretary General in the IAHR Bulletin or by direct mail to the officers of the constituent societies of the IAHR.

    4. The candidates will be invited to give a brief statement of candidacy in the IAHR Bulletin, in an IAHR e-Bulletin Supplement or other electronic communication and the IAHR website

  4. Constraints

    1. "The Executive Committee is composed of a President, two Vice-Presidents, a Secretary General, a Deputy Secretary General, a Treasurer, a Deputy Treasurer, a Publications Officer, and four further members. The officers in particular, and the members of the Executive Committee in general, shall be chosen in such a way as reasonably to reflect various parts of the world where academic study of religion is pursued in its various disciplines. (....) The members of the Executive Committee shall hold office for one quinquennial term each and be subject to re-election, but not more than two-thirds of the Committee shall be carried on from one term to the next. No one member shall serve in the same office more than two terms and no other member shall serve for more than four terms in total." [Article 4.c of the Constitution].

    2. At the International Committee meeting in Paris in 1993, it was recommended that the Nominating Committee strive towards a gender balance among the nominees for the Executive Committee.

    3. At the International Committee meeting in Rome (1990) and recalled for the minutes in Paris (1993), it was recommended that nominees for the Executive Committee should be actively in post at a university or a comparable institution at the time of the election.

    4. Nominees should be chosen for their organizational abilities as well as their scholarship, and they should be committed to the aims and goals of the IAHR.

  5. Alternative Nominations

    1. "Members of the International Committee may propose alternative nominations not less than three months prior to each quinquennial congress." [Article 4.c of the Constitution].

    2. Three months prior to each quinquennial congress means three months before the day prior to the opening of the congress

    3. Such nominations shall be made public. Those nominations that are inconsistent with Point 4 above shall not be taken into consideration.