Where will the 29th IPSA World Congress be held?

The congress will be held in the city of Rome, ITA.

What is the primary focus of the IPSA World Congress?

The congress serves as a global platform for political scientists to present research, discuss contemporary political issues, and foster international collaboration in the field.

Who typically attends the IPSA World Congress?

The congress attracts a diverse range of academics, researchers, and practitioners from various countries, all engaged in the study of political science.

29th IPSA World Congress (Rome 2027)

Name: 29th IPSA World Congress (Rome 2027)
Start: 2027-07-24T00:00:00Z
End: 2027-07-28T00:00:00Z
Location: Rome

Jul 24–28, 2027Rome, ItalyIn-person

Registration open

The 29th IPSA World Congress, a significant gathering for political scientists globally, is scheduled to take place in Rome, Italy. This event serves as a crucial platform for academics, researchers, and practitioners to engage in discussions on contemporary political issues, share research findings, and foster international collaboration. The congress is known for attracting a diverse group of participants from various countries, contributing to a rich exchange of ideas and perspectives within the field of political science.

Committees & topics

Topics
Uncertain Democracies: Rethinking Governance in a Changing Global System · International Relations in a Multipolar Era · Policy Process Research: Evidence, Institutions, and Decision-Making · Comparative Politics: Regimes, Institutions, and Political Behavior · Human Mobility: Migration, Displacement, and Governance · Asian Politics: Power, Development, and Regional Order · African Politics: Sovereignty, Security, and Transformation · Middle East Politics: Conflict, Realignment, and Reform

Why it matters

The IPSA World Congress holds substantial importance for the international political science community. It provides a unique forum for scholars to present cutting-edge research, debate theoretical frameworks, and analyze global political trends. Such events are vital for the advancement of the discipline, as they facilitate the dissemination of knowledge and encourage critical thinking about governance, international relations, and public policy.

Furthermore, the congress in Rome, ITA, offers an opportunity for participants to network with peers from different academic traditions and geographical regions. This cross-cultural interaction is essential for developing a more comprehensive understanding of global political phenomena and for building collaborative research initiatives that can address complex challenges facing the world today. The insights generated from these discussions often influence academic curricula, policy recommendations, and public discourse.

How to prepare

For those preparing to engage with the IPSA World Congress, a strategic approach to understanding the diverse perspectives and potential points of contention is paramount. Participants should consider employing a robust framework for stakeholder analysis, as outlined in the lesson on "what-is-stakeholder-mapping", to identify key actors and their interests within the various sub-fields of political science represented at the congress. This will enable more effective engagement and targeted networking.

Moreover, understanding the nuances of "hidden-stakeholders" and their influence on political discourse, as detailed in the relevant lesson, can provide a significant advantage. Developing strong "engagement-strategies" is also crucial for maximizing participation and ensuring that one's contributions are impactful. Given the international nature of the congress, an awareness of "gender-dynamics-across-cultures" will also be beneficial for fostering inclusive and productive discussions. Finally, applying "dynamic-analysis" to anticipate evolving themes and debates will allow for more agile and responsive participation.

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 5 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Italy

As the host nation, ITA will likely emphasize its contributions to political thought and European political integration, while also showcasing its unique challenges and successes in governance.

Role in topic

ITA provides the historical and cultural backdrop for the congress, influencing discussions on democracy, state formation, and regional politics within Europe. Its academic institutions will play a key role in organizing and contributing to the intellectual content.

United States

Scholars from USA will likely focus on democratic theory, international security, and the impact of global power shifts, reflecting their country's prominent role in global politics.

Role in topic

USA academics often lead discussions on political methodology, comparative politics, and international relations, bringing a significant body of research and theoretical frameworks to the congress.

China

Delegates from CHN will likely present research on state-society relations, economic governance, and their country's growing influence in global affairs, offering perspectives on non-Western political models.

Role in topic

CHN's participation is crucial for discussions on authoritarianism, development models, and the future of the international order, providing a counterpoint to Western-centric analyses.

India

Academics from IND will likely contribute insights on democratic resilience, federalism, and the challenges of development in large, diverse societies, reflecting their country's unique political landscape.

Role in topic

IND's experience with democratic governance in a highly diverse context offers valuable case studies for comparative politics and discussions on social justice and political participation.

Brazil

Participants from BRA will likely focus on issues of democracy in Latin America, social movements, and environmental politics, reflecting regional concerns and global interdependencies.

Role in topic

BRA's contributions are important for understanding political transitions, inequality, and the role of emerging economies in global governance, particularly from a Global South perspective.

Topics & background

The background behind each topic and the actors that shape it.

Uncertain Democracies: Rethinking Governance in a Changing Global System

The post-Cold War assumption that liberal democracy would steadily diffuse across the international system has eroded over the past two decades. Indices from V-Dem, Freedom House, and the Economist Intelligence Unit have documented successive years of democratic backsliding, with hybrid regimes consolidating in parts of Europe, Asia, and the Americas, and established democracies facing polarization, declining trust in institutions, and contested elections. The 2016 Brexit referendum and U.S. election, the erosion of judicial independence in Hungary and Poland, military coups across the Sahel, and the contested 2020-2024 electoral cycles in Brazil and the United States have all fed scholarly debate about whether democracy is in recession or merely in transformation. At the same time, the global order that underwrote liberal democratic norms — U.S. primacy, multilateral institutions, and an open economic system — is being reshaped by great-power competition, weaponized interdependence, and a more assertive Global South. Scholars increasingly frame the question not as democracy versus autocracy but as a contest over models of governance: technocratic, populist, illiberal, and participatory variants now coexist. The IPSA panel situates these trends within comparative theory, asking how democratic institutions adapt to digital information environments, economic insecurity, and demographic change. Today the debate centers on resilience: which institutional designs, civic practices, and international arrangements can stabilize democratic governance under stress. Policymakers and political scientists are revisiting questions of constitutionalism, electoral integrity, and the role of supranational bodies such as the EU and OAS in defending democratic norms without provoking sovereignty backlash.

Key players

International Relations in a Multipolar Era

The discipline of International Relations is grappling with the apparent end of the unipolar moment that followed the Cold War. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, intensifying U.S.-China strategic competition, the war in Gaza since October 2023, and the diversification of partnerships pursued by middle powers such as Brazil, India, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia have together produced what many scholars describe as a fragmented or multipolar order. Institutions built around the 1945 settlement — the UN Security Council, Bretton Woods bodies, and the nonproliferation regime — face legitimacy and effectiveness challenges as veto politics, sanctions, and parallel structures such as BRICS+ expand. Theoretically, the field is revisiting realist accounts of balancing and bipolarity, liberal arguments about institutional resilience, and constructivist analyses of norm contestation. Newer research agendas focus on weaponized interdependence, economic statecraft, climate security, and the international politics of technology, including semiconductors, AI, and undersea infrastructure. The relative decline of arms-control architecture — the lapse of the INF Treaty, the suspension of New START participation, and stalled NPT review cycles — has reopened nuclear questions long thought stabilized. The IPSA discussion frames contemporary IR around three axes: the management of great-power rivalry without systemic war, the reform or replacement of multilateral institutions, and the agency of middle and small powers in shaping outcomes between competing blocs.

Key players

Policy Process Research: Evidence, Institutions, and Decision-Making

Policy Process Research examines how problems reach political agendas, how alternatives are formulated, and how decisions are implemented and evaluated. Building on foundational frameworks — Kingdon's multiple streams, Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith's Advocacy Coalition Framework, Ostrom's Institutional Analysis and Development, and the Punctuated Equilibrium model — the subfield has expanded over the past decade to address transnational policy diffusion, the role of behavioral insights units, and the politics of evidence in regulatory states. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed both the strengths and the fragility of evidence-based policymaking, accelerating interest in how scientific advice, public trust, and partisan politics interact under emergency conditions. Recent scholarship emphasizes the increasingly contested nature of expertise, the rise of behavioral and computational tools (including algorithmic decision systems in welfare, immigration, and policing), and the role of populist governments in disrupting established policy subsystems. Climate adaptation, AI governance, and pandemic preparedness offer comparative test cases for how policy actors — bureaucracies, interest groups, courts, and international organizations — navigate uncertainty and contestation. The IPSA agenda invites delegates to consider how comparative policy research can travel across regime types and institutional settings, and how the discipline should respond to challenges of replication, mixed-methods integration, and engagement with practitioners.

Key players

Comparative Politics: Regimes, Institutions, and Political Behavior

Comparative Politics studies political phenomena across countries to identify patterns in regime types, institutions, parties, and citizen behavior. Since the third wave of democratization began in 1974, the field has tracked successive cycles of democratization, autocratization, and hybrid regime formation. Contemporary research foregrounds the rise of competitive authoritarianism (Levitsky and Way), executive aggrandizement, and the use of legal instruments to erode checks and balances — patterns documented from Hungary and Turkey to Venezuela and parts of South and Southeast Asia. A parallel agenda examines the transformation of party systems, the decline of traditional mass parties, the rise of populist and personalist movements, and the behavioral foundations of polarization. Comparative work on clientelism, ethnic politics, and state capacity remains central, particularly in Africa, Latin America, and post-Soviet space. Methodological innovation — causal identification, computational text analysis, and large-N survey infrastructures such as Afrobarometer, Latinobarómetro, and the World Values Survey — has reshaped how comparativists test claims. The IPSA discussion considers how the field can integrate findings on democratic erosion, electoral integrity, and identity politics, while remaining attentive to non-Western cases and avoiding the universalization of patterns observed primarily in OECD democracies.

Key players

Human Mobility: Migration, Displacement, and Governance

Human mobility has become one of the defining political issues of the early twenty-first century. UNHCR data show forced displacement surpassing 120 million people by 2024 — driven by conflicts in Syria, Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar, and the Sahel, as well as by violence and economic collapse in Venezuela and parts of Central America. At the same time, climate-related displacement, both sudden-onset and slow-onset, is increasing, prompting debate about the legal categories that govern protection. The 2018 Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and the Global Compact on Refugees established non-binding frameworks, but implementation has been uneven. Politically, migration has reshaped electoral landscapes across Europe and North America, fueling restrictionist parties and externalization arrangements such as the EU-Turkey statement, the EU-Tunisia memorandum, the U.K.-Rwanda scheme (later annulled), and U.S. agreements with Mexico and Central American states. Receiving states are simultaneously competing for skilled labor amid demographic decline, producing a bifurcated politics that welcomes selected migration while hardening borders against asylum seekers and irregular flows. The IPSA panel addresses governance gaps between humanitarian, labor, and climate mobility regimes; the rights of migrants in transit; and the role of regional organizations and origin states in shaping outcomes.

Key players

Asian Politics: Power, Development, and Regional Order

Asia is the demographic and economic center of gravity of the contemporary international system, and its internal politics increasingly shape global outcomes. The U.S.-China rivalry has hardened across trade, technology, and security domains, with flashpoints in the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea, and the Korean Peninsula. The Quad (United States, Japan, India, Australia), AUKUS, and expanded U.S. basing in the Philippines coexist with deepening Chinese engagement through the Belt and Road Initiative, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and the SCO. ASEAN centrality remains a stated norm but is tested by the Myanmar crisis since the 2021 coup and by South China Sea disputes. Domestically, the region encompasses extraordinary regime diversity: consolidated democracies (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan), large and contested democracies (India, Indonesia, the Philippines), one-party states (China, Vietnam, Laos), a military junta (Myanmar), and a totalitarian holdout (North Korea). Comparative scholarship examines developmental states, dynastic politics, Hindu majoritarianism, and the durability of CCP rule under Xi Jinping. Demographic shifts — aging in East Asia, youth bulges in South and Southeast Asia — will reshape political economies over the coming decade. The IPSA discussion examines how Asian states are constructing regional order amid great-power competition, and how domestic political trajectories interact with external alignment choices.

Key players

African Politics: Sovereignty, Security, and Transformation

African politics in the 2020s is defined by simultaneous trends of democratic stress, security crises, and renewed great-power attention. A belt of coups across the Sahel — Mali (2020, 2021), Guinea (2021), Burkina Faso (2022), Niger (2023), and Gabon (2023) — has dismantled regional security arrangements such as the G5 Sahel and accelerated the withdrawal of French and UN forces, with Russian-linked Africa Corps personnel filling some gaps. In the Horn, the 2020-2022 Tigray war and the renewed Sudan conflict since April 2023 have produced massive displacement and humanitarian collapse. Eastern DRC remains destabilized by M23 and other armed groups. At the same time, the African Union has advanced continental projects including the African Continental Free Trade Area (operational since 2021) and gained G20 membership in 2023, while individual states diversify partnerships across the EU, China, Gulf states, Turkey, and Russia. Democratic experience is mixed: Senegal's 2024 transition and South Africa's 2024 coalition government coexist with constitutional manipulations and contested elections elsewhere. Climate vulnerability, debt distress, and a youth bulge of historic scale frame the underlying political economy. The IPSA panel considers how African states are reasserting sovereignty and pursuing transformation amid overlapping security, governance, and development challenges.

Key players

Middle East Politics: Conflict, Realignment, and Reform

Middle East politics has been reshaped by the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023 and the subsequent Israeli war in Gaza, which has produced the highest Palestinian casualty toll of any phase of the conflict, a humanitarian catastrophe, ICJ proceedings on genocide allegations, ICC arrest warrants, and a regional escalation that drew in Hezbollah, the Houthis, and direct Iran-Israel exchanges in 2024. The collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024 further redrew the regional map, opening uncertain political transitions in Syria and altering Iranian and Russian positions in the Levant. Prior to October 2023, the region had been moving toward selective normalization through the Abraham Accords (2020) and the China-brokered Saudi-Iran rapprochement (2023), alongside ambitious domestic reform agendas in Saudi Arabia (Vision 2030) and the UAE. Those tracks are now in tension with renewed conflict dynamics, while Gulf states continue to diversify partnerships across the U.S., China, and Russia, and Turkey reasserts influence from Syria to the Eastern Mediterranean. Yemen's war and the Houthis' Red Sea campaign have disrupted global shipping and exposed the limits of maritime coalitions. The IPSA discussion examines the durability of state institutions under prolonged conflict, the prospects for any revived Palestinian political horizon, and how regional realignments interact with great-power competition and energy transitions.

Key players

Resources

News, lessons, and country profiles to prep for 29th IPSA World Congress (Rome 2027).

Recent reporting to ground your prep

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Lessons

Bite-sized lessons to build the basics

Hidden Stakeholders

Engagement Strategies

Dynamic Analysis

Stakeholder Mapping Workshop

Courses

Guided courses that go deeper on the topic

Policy Brief Writing

Media & Press Relations

Advanced Negotiation

Multilateral Negotiation

Italy July 2027

By committee

Frequently asked questions

29th IPSA World Congress (Rome 2027)

Jul 24–28, 2027Rome, ItalyIn-person

Registration open

Committees & topics

Topics
Uncertain Democracies: Rethinking Governance in a Changing Global System · International Relations in a Multipolar Era · Policy Process Research: Evidence, Institutions, and Decision-Making · Comparative Politics: Regimes, Institutions, and Political Behavior · Human Mobility: Migration, Displacement, and Governance · Asian Politics: Power, Development, and Regional Order · African Politics: Sovereignty, Security, and Transformation · Middle East Politics: Conflict, Realignment, and Reform

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 5 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

Italy

As the host nation, ITA will likely emphasize its contributions to political thought and European political integration, while also showcasing its unique challenges and successes in governance.

Role in topic

United States

Scholars from USA will likely focus on democratic theory, international security, and the impact of global power shifts, reflecting their country's prominent role in global politics.

Role in topic

USA academics often lead discussions on political methodology, comparative politics, and international relations, bringing a significant body of research and theoretical frameworks to the congress.

China

Role in topic

CHN's participation is crucial for discussions on authoritarianism, development models, and the future of the international order, providing a counterpoint to Western-centric analyses.

India

Role in topic

IND's experience with democratic governance in a highly diverse context offers valuable case studies for comparative politics and discussions on social justice and political participation.

Brazil

Participants from BRA will likely focus on issues of democracy in Latin America, social movements, and environmental politics, reflecting regional concerns and global interdependencies.

Role in topic

BRA's contributions are important for understanding political transitions, inequality, and the role of emerging economies in global governance, particularly from a Global South perspective.