Parliamentarians are, by definition, experts in meeting procedures. They are knowledgeable in the application of Roberts Rules of Order as well as other lesser known authorities. They draft bylaws, assist with elections, help members write motions, draft scripts for running meetings, and assist the president while the meeting is in progress. They are little known outside the profession because their work is done behind the scenes. The American Institute of Parliamentarians (AIP) and the National Association of Parliamentarians (NAP) have done much to bind the professional membership together. Each association has a quarterly publication featuring scholarly articles in the field, a testing and credentialing program, a continuing education program, and a referral service for professionals. The two associations also offer a wide variety of workshops and seminars annually throughout the country. Correspondence courses are available for those who have difficulty traveling. Members of the parliamentary profession are not licensed, and there is no degree requirement for entering the profession. Members enter the profession from many different disciplines with sharply different backgrounds of educational achievement. Yet they do share certain characteristics in common that bring them together as members of a profession. The purpose of this book is to explore and describe the key attributes of todays parliamentary profession. What are the building blocks that comprise its foundation? How have these building blocks interacted to produce The Parliamentarian of Today, and what trends do they reveal that will shape The Parliamentarian of Tomorrow? Aspiring parliamentarians, as well as seasoned professionals in the field, will find this helpful in understanding their profession, where it is headed, and how they can adjust to accommodate the future demands of client organizations.

This book will guide you on how to structure your training and how you prepare for the unique position of "parliamentarian." Topics include: * Deciding whether you are naturally suited to the role of parliamentarian and whether this is something that you really want to do. * Starting your parliamentary education. * Selecting your first jobs. * The work of the parliamentarian in detail, from the initial preparation prior to meetings to the follow-up actions that should be taken after each meeting. * Becoming a professional parliamentarian.

A Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year “Even in these dismal times genuinely important books do occasionally make their appearance...You really ought to read it...A tour de force...While Wertheim is not the first to expose isolationism as a carefully constructed myth, he does so with devastating effect.” —Andrew J. Bacevich, The Nation For most of its history, the United States avoided making political and military commitments that would entangle it in power politics. Then, suddenly, it conceived a new role for itself as an armed superpower—and never looked back. In Tomorrow, the World, Stephen Wertheim traces America’s transformation to World War II, right before the attack on Pearl Harbor. As late as 1940, the small coterie formulating U.S. foreign policy wanted British preeminence to continue. Axis conquests swept away their assumptions, leading them to conclude that America should extend its form of law and order across the globe, and back it at gunpoint. No one really favored “isolationism”—a term introduced by advocates of armed supremacy to burnish their cause. We live, Wertheim warns, in the world these men created. A sophisticated and impassioned account that questions the wisdom of U.S. supremacy, Tomorrow, the World reveals the intellectual path that brought us to today’s endless wars. “Its implications are invigorating...Wertheim opens space for Americans to reexamine their own history and ask themselves whether primacy has ever really met their interests.” —New Republic “For almost 80 years now, historians and diplomats have sought not only to describe America’s swift advance to global primacy but also to explain it...Any writer wanting to make a novel contribution either has to have evidence for a new interpretation, or at least be making an older argument in some improved and eye-catching way. Tomorrow, the World does both.” —Paul Kennedy, Wall Street Journal