Statutes

I – CHAPTER ONE (Name, Seat, Mission, Goals)

Article 1.

The Centre for Research in Political Science, International Relations and Security, also designed by CICPRIS, is a Scientific Association established in Lisbon, in the «Department of Political Science, Security and International Relations» of the FCSEA of the Humanities and Technologies Lusophone University (ULHT), Av. do Campo Grande, 376, 1749-024 Lisbon, which will bi ruled by these statutes, its regulations and the Portuguese Common Law.

Article 2.

CICPRIS purpose is the development and dissemination of its research, the production and distribution of scientific content in areas that are considered structural for the political science, the science of religions, the security and the international relations; it will do the same in several knowledge areas and other domains that may be complementary, in an interdisciplinary perspective and close institutional cooperation with the «Department of Political Science, Security and International Relations» of the FCSEA of the ULHT and the «Department of Political Science and International Relations» of the FCESE of the Porto Lusophone University (ULP).

Article 3.

Towards the fulfillment of its purpose, the CICPRIS will be guided in accordance with the followings aims:

1. To contribute to the realization of individually or collectively research projects either internally generated or proposed by other agents operating in the spheres of education, culture, business and public and private institutions;
2. To establish a permanent sharing of knowledge, experiences and initiatives of scientific nature, both in teaching and in research with the ULHT/FCSEA Department of Political Science, Security and International Relations and the FCESE Department of Political Science and International Relations;
3. To attract and to keep young researchers;
4. To support the research activity of graduate, master, doctoral and post-doctoral students, namely through joint sessions of reflection;
5. To publish the scientific papers of its members or other research when pursued under masters, doctoral and postgraduate courses, namely:
6. Launch the second series of the journal «Respublica», a scientific publication online and on paper, every six months, which will be the Official Organ of the CICPRIS.
7. To keep «”Africanologia” – Journal of Lusophone African Studies», a scientific publication online and on paper, every six months;
8. To keep the «Journal of Science of Religions», a scientific publication online and on paper, every six months;
9. To support other scientific publications within the realm of the CICPRIS’ current lines of research;
10. To create a «site» («CICPRIS»), where its identity and activities wil be exposed, as well as published scientific papers, encouraging and supporting the creation of sites of the respective lines of research;
11. To ensure regular exchanges with national and foreign institutions and similar research centers, encouraging their participation in projects of common interest;
12. To organize conferences, seminars and other public events, in a disciplinary or multidisciplinary perspective, which will contribute to the spread and the deepening of new research trends in Political Science, Science of Religions, Security and International Relations, in all the areas that were mentioned in Article 2

II – CHAPTER TWO (Members)

Article 4.

The CICPRIS is composed by permanent members – founders, integrated and other members who were statutory admitted in General Assembly – and temporary members, who are divided into research associates and research partners.

Article 5.

1. Permanent members

1. The founding members are those named in the first General Assembly of CICPRIS, through the proposal of the Executive Board;
2. In addition to the founding members, the researchers who were statutory admitted in General Assembly are also permanent members;
3. The integrated permanent researchers are those permanent members of CICPRIS having a PhD, holding the conditions of scientific production fixed by the FCT for the accreditation of R&D Units and developing coordination and research activities in the CICPRIS.

2. Temporary members

1. Associated researchers, always on a temporary basis, are those researchers who were invited to join projects or lines of research in progress, as well as master or doctoral candidates, in the condition that they are being supervised by permanent researchers throughout the duration of the projects under development in CICPRIS;
2. Research partners are those researchers expressly hired to assist in the research tasks of CICPRIS and throughout the duration of the projects to which they are assigned.

Article 6.

1. The status of a permanent member of CICPRIS is acquired through a proposal signed by two of its members and ratified by the General Assembly.
2. The permanent members of CICPRIS benefit of available human, technical and financial resources available, pledging, for its part, to respect the statutes and to meet the research contracts approved.
3. The permanent members are entitled to vote at the General Assembly, and have the capacity to elect and to be elected to all CICPRIS organs, namely the Executive Board, the General Assembly (Chairman and Secretary) and the Audit Committee.

Article 7.

1. The status of a permanent member, including the permanent researchers, finishes when the member resigns or is dismissed by the General Assembly based on disregard of the CICPRIS’ statutes or on acts contrary to its objectives.
2. Associated researcher and research partner status comes to an end when the project to which these members are associated finishes, and they can be reacquired by inclusion in another project.

III – CHAPTER THREE (Governing bodies and elections)

Article 8.

The governing bodies of the CICPRIS are the General Assembly, the Executive Board, the Scientific Council, the Advisory Council and the Audit Committee.

Article 9.

1. The term of office of governing bodies members shall be three years.
2. Retiring board members will exercise their mandates until the newly elected members take their places.
3. There is no maximum limit to the number of mandates.
4. The Institute of Security Studies (ULHT), the Institute of Electoral Studies (ULP) and the Institute of Mediation (ULP) are also integrated into the CICPRIS, but they benefit of operational autonomy. Their directors are inherently members of the Executive Board, the Scientific Council, the Advisory Council and the General Assembly of the CICPRIS.

Article 10.

1. The General Assembly is composed by all the CICPRIS’ permanent members, under the supervising of a Bureau comprising the Chairman and the Secretary. The functions of the General Assembly are to elect the Direction, to approve the plan of research and the plan of activities, as well as to approve the scientific and financial reports of CICPRIS. The General Assembly shall meet every year, namely, to:

1. assess and ratify the scientific and financial report for the current year;
2. assess and ratify the scientific plan and the budget for the following year.

2. At the beginning and end of every three years, the General Assembly, having electoral competence, shall:

1. Approve the P&L statement and the management report as well the report from the Audit Committee relative to the last three-year.
2. Elect its Bureau, as well as the Executive Board and the Audit Committee for the next three years;
3. Approve the admission of new members and deliberate on matters at that time proposed by the Executive Board of CICPRIS.

3. The General Assembly shall meet extraordinarily whenever called by the Chairman or by a reasoned request of at least one-fifth of its members or of the Executive Board.

4. The General Assembly is convened by mail or e-mail, sent to each member with a minimum of eight days before the meeting. In the notice, the date, time and place of the meeting and their work order shall be stated, the support materials to the meeting being available for inspection at the offices of CICPRIS, whenever they cannot be sent.

Article 11.

1. The General Assembly cannot deliberate on first call, without the presence of at least half of its members. Since previously announced on the notice, the General Assembly may meet and deliberate with the number of members who are present 30 minutes after the scheduled beginning.

2. The present members will decide by the majority vote of the present members, except in the following paragraphs.

3. Decisions on the statutory amendments and impeachment of governing bodies require the favourable vote of three-fourths of the present members.

4. Decisions on the dissolution or extension of the legal person require the favorable vote of three-fourths of all the members.

Article 12.

The integrated researchers of the CICPRIS compose the Scientific Council, which will be chaired by the President of the Executive Board.

Article 13.

1. The Scientific Council of the CICPRIS shall approve the research projects, define and guide the scientific policy, as well as promote an editorial policy designed to spread the research activity.
2. The Scientific Council normally meets every three months and extraordinarily whenever called by the President or at the request of at least fifty percent of its members.
3. The Scientific Council will propose to the General Assembly a Regulation for the submission and approval of research projects.

Article 14.

The International Advisory Council is composed by the members of the Scientific Council, as well as national and foreign individuals with relevant activity in the research areas of the CICPRIS, invited by the Executive Board and ratified by a majority of the members of the Scientific Council. Its President is appointed by the Executive Board of the CICPRIS. The members of the Advisory Council have the same prerogatives of the members of the Scientific Council and may be invited to participate, without a vote, in the Scientific Council. The Advisory Council pronounces annually on the Activities Report and every two years on the activity of CICPRIS. It meets extraordinarily when convened by its Chairman or by a proposal from the Executive Board.

Article 15.

The Executive Board of CICPRIS is responsible for the management and representation of the CICPRIS, in accordance with the guidelines set by the Scientific Council and ratified by the General Assembly.

Article 16.

1. The Executive Board of the CICPRIS is composed of a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, a Treasurer and several other members, i.e. the coordinators of the research lines and the directors of the Institutes, all permanent researchers being eligible. The President must be necessarily a PhD researcher.

2. The President will convene the Executive Board with three days in advance and shall meet regularly.

3. The President of the Executive Board shall:

1. Represent the CICPRIS in every activity and in front of all other entities;
2. Chair the meetings of the Executive Board and the Scientific Council;
3. Facilitate successful functional coordination among the various bodies of CICPRIS;
4. Solve problems that, by their nature or by means of urgency, can’t wait for the resolution of the Executive Board, but, in that case, they must be presented for ratification to the nearest meeting.
5. Submit annually the Activities Report of the previous year and the Activities Plan for the following year.

4. The Vice-President of the Executive Board shall:

1. Represent the CICPRIS in front of other entities, in the absence of the President;
2. Chair the meetings of the Executive Board and the Scientific Council, in the absence of the President;
3. Cooperate in facilitating successful functional coordination between the various bodies of CICPRIS;
4. Cooperate, whenever requested by the President, in the resolution of issues that, by its nature or by means of urgency, cannot be pending the resolution of the Executive Board, but, however, must be presented for ratification to the nearest meeting.

5. In addition to the tasks related to its participation in the governing body, the Secretary of Executive Board shall:

1. Replace the President or the Vice-President on their absences, at their request;
2. Deal with current subjects, including the organization and the expedient which is linked to the research projects.

6. In addition to the tasks related to its participation in the governing body, the Treasurer of the Executive Board shall:

1. Manage the financial resources made available to members of the CICPRIS;
2. Present annually the financial report (P&L) and the foreseen budget in the General Assembly.

7. The signatures of two Executive Members are necessary to oblige CICPRIS in any act or contract involving financial responsibility

Article 17.

The General Assembly will elect a President, a Secretary and a member of the Audit Committee.

Article 18.

1. The Audit Committee shall check the documents about the expenditure, the legality of payments, as well as issue an opinion on the Annual Report of the Executive Board and the Scientific Council.

2. The Audit Committee will normally meet once a year and extraordinarily whenever it deems.

IV – CHAPTER FOUR (Financial resources and assets)

Article 19.

1.The financial resources of CICPRIS results from revenues obtained through its activities, as well as grants, gifts or bequests which it will be granted.

2. All the goods and products financially or freely acquired and the assets shown in the annual P&L will form the CICPRIS assets.

V – CHAPTER FIVE (Miscellaneous provisions)

Article 20.

1. The Executive Board has a three years’ mandate, coinciding its beginning with the start of the calendar year.

2. The replacement of any member of the current Executive Board is done by co-optation by the remaining members of the Executive Board, and subject to ratification at the next General Assembly.

3. In the case of collective resignation of the Executive Board, the Chairman of the General Assembly will convene, within thirty days, an extraordinary and electoral General Assembly.

Article 21.

The resolutions of the governing bodies are taken by majority vote of members who were present, having their respective presidents the casting vote.

Article 22.

The asset’s destiny in termination’s case will be determined by the General Assembly or, by its appointment, by the Executive Board, to whom, according to the article 184 of the Civil Code, the very powers of liquidators belong.