International Conference on Political Sciences and International Relations ICPSAIR

Name: International Conference on Political Sciences and International Relations ICPSAIR
Start: 2026-12-30T00:00:00Z
End: 2026-12-31T00:00:00Z
Location: Karachi

Dec 30–31, 2026Karachi, PakistanIn-person

Registration open

The International Conference on Political Sciences and International Relations (ICPSAIR) 2026 will convene in New York, United States. This event serves as a critical forum for academics, researchers, and practitioners to engage with contemporary issues in political science and international relations. Participants will have the opportunity to present their work, exchange ideas, and foster collaborations that can shape future discourse and policy. The conference aims to address a broad spectrum of topics, reflecting the complex and evolving nature of global politics. By bringing together diverse perspectives, ICPSAIR seeks to deepen understanding of political phenomena and international dynamics, contributing to both theoretical advancements and practical solutions.

Committees & topics

Topics
Contemporary Drivers of International Conflict · The Shifting Architecture of International Politics · Political Conflicts in a Polarized Era · Political Science as a Discipline and Policy Resource · Politics and Society in an Age of Polarization · International Relations in a Multipolar Transition · Foreign Policy in an Era of Strategic Competition · Comparative Politics and the Global Democratic Recession

Why it matters

In an era marked by rapid geopolitical shifts and interconnected global challenges, forums like ICPSAIR are indispensable. The conference provides a platform for rigorous academic inquiry into the forces shaping our world, from the rise of new powers to persistent conflicts and the intricacies of international cooperation. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for effective diplomacy and informed decision-making.

The discussions at ICPSAIR can illuminate pathways for addressing pressing global issues, including climate change, economic inequality, and security threats. By examining these challenges through the lens of political science and international relations, participants can contribute to developing innovative strategies and policies. The insights generated here can influence how governments, international organizations, and civil society actors approach complex problems.

Furthermore, the conference's focus on diverse perspectives ensures a comprehensive analysis of global affairs. Scholars from various backgrounds will present research that challenges existing paradigms and offers fresh interpretations of political events. This intellectual exchange is vital for advancing the fields of political science and international relations, ensuring they remain relevant and responsive to the contemporary world.

How to prepare

To maximize engagement and impact at ICPSAIR, participants should consider how their research aligns with current global challenges and emerging trends. A strong understanding of topics such as Dynamic Analysis and Hidden Stakeholders will be beneficial for framing presentations and discussions effectively.

Attendees should prepare to engage with a diverse international audience. Familiarity with different analytical frameworks and regional political contexts will enhance the quality of interactions. Considering the Gender Dynamics Across Cultures in political science research can also offer a richer perspective.

For those presenting, it is advisable to articulate the practical implications of their research for policymakers and practitioners. Highlighting how findings can inform Engagement Strategies or contribute to a better understanding of What Is Stakeholder Mapping? will make contributions more impactful. Networking opportunities should also be leveraged to build collaborations and disseminate research findings.

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 4 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

United States

As the host nation, the United States plays a central role in shaping global political and economic discourse, often serving as a key actor in international relations discussions.

Role in topic

The United States, as the host country, provides a significant platform for discussions on international relations, reflecting its historical and ongoing influence in global political science research and policy debates. Its academic institutions and think tanks are often at the forefront of these discussions.

China

China's growing economic and geopolitical influence makes its political science and international relations perspectives crucial for understanding global power shifts and multilateral dynamics.

Role in topic

China's increasing role on the world stage means its perspectives on political science and international relations are vital for understanding global power dynamics, economic interdependence, and the future of multilateral institutions. Discussions involving China often touch upon topics like trade, security, and regional stability.

Russia

Russia's foreign policy and its impact on regional and global security are consistently central to international relations discussions, particularly concerning European security and energy politics.

Role in topic

Russia's foreign policy and its implications for international security, particularly in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, are frequently discussed. Its role in energy politics and its relationships with major global powers are also key areas of focus within international relations.

India

India's emergence as a major global power, coupled with its unique democratic experience, offers valuable insights into South Asian geopolitics and the evolving multipolar world order.

Role in topic

India's position as a large democracy and an emerging economic power makes its contributions to political science and international relations significant, especially concerning South Asian geopolitics, non-alignment, and its growing influence in global governance.

Topics & background

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

Contemporary Drivers of International Conflict

International conflict has evolved considerably since the end of the Cold War. The bipolar superpower rivalry that defined 1945–1991 gave way to a brief period of perceived U.S. unipolarity, during which interstate war declined while intrastate and asymmetric conflicts proliferated — from the Balkans and Rwanda in the 1990s to Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Libya in the 2000s and 2010s. Theorists debated whether liberal institutions, economic interdependence, and democratic peace had structurally reduced the likelihood of major war, even as ethnic, sectarian, and resource-based conflicts continued in the global periphery. The 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, escalating U.S.–China rivalry over Taiwan and the South China Sea, and the 2023–2024 Gaza war and broader Middle East escalation have shifted the debate. Analysts now speak of renewed great-power competition, the erosion of arms-control regimes (INF, Open Skies, New START's uncertain future), and a fragmenting international order. Hybrid warfare, cyber operations, drone proliferation, and the weaponization of economic interdependence have blurred the line between war and peace. Today the central dispute is whether the post-1945 collective security architecture — anchored by the UN Charter's prohibition on the use of force — can constrain revisionist behavior, or whether the world is entering a more overtly multipolar and conflict-prone era requiring new deterrence frameworks, conflict-prevention tools, and updated norms governing emerging military technologies.

Key players

The Shifting Architecture of International Politics

International politics in the modern sense traces its institutional roots to the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, which entrenched sovereign equality among states, and to the Concert of Europe and later the League of Nations and United Nations, which sought to manage interstate relations through diplomacy and law. The 20th century saw two world wars, decolonization, the Cold War's ideological bipolarity, and the construction of a dense network of multilateral institutions — the UN system, Bretton Woods institutions, the GATT/WTO, and regional bodies such as the EU, ASEAN, and the African Union. The post-Cold War liberal moment is now widely seen as receding. The 2008 financial crisis, the rise of China, Russia's confrontation with the West, populist backlashes against globalization in established democracies, and the relative empowerment of middle powers (India, Brazil, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia) have produced what many observers call a multipolar, or 'multiplex,' order. BRICS expansion in 2024, the contested reform of the UN Security Council, and competing visions of global governance (a 'rules-based order' versus calls for a more pluralistic system) define current debates. The core dispute is over which norms, institutions, and power configurations will structure 21st-century international politics: whether the liberal order can be reformed and broadened, whether parallel orders led by non-Western powers will consolidate, or whether the world will fragment into competing blocs and issue-specific coalitions.

Key players

Political Conflicts in a Polarized Era

Political conflict — contestation over power, resources, identity, and governance within and across states — has assumed new forms in the 21st century. The Arab Uprisings of 2010–2012, the Euromaidan revolution in Ukraine in 2014, mass protests in Hong Kong (2014, 2019), Chile, Lebanon, Iran, Belarus, Myanmar, and Sudan, and democratic backsliding in Hungary, Türkiye, Venezuela, and elsewhere reflect a global pattern of intensified contestation between citizens and states, and between competing political coalitions within states. Research by V-Dem, Freedom House, and IDEA documents a sustained erosion of democratic quality globally since roughly 2006. Drivers include economic inequality, social-media-amplified polarization, identity-based mobilization, weakened party systems, foreign interference, and disillusionment with technocratic governance. Civil wars in Syria, Yemen, Ethiopia (Tigray), Sudan, and Myanmar illustrate how unresolved political conflicts can spiral into prolonged armed violence with transnational spillovers — refugees, illicit economies, and regional destabilization. The central question for the international community is how to support peaceful political competition, protect civic space, and mediate conflicts without either ignoring sovereignty concerns or imposing externally driven solutions that lack legitimacy. Mediation by the UN, regional organizations, and ad hoc coalitions remains uneven, and the normative consensus around the Responsibility to Protect has weakened markedly since the 2011 Libya intervention.

Key players

Political Science as a Discipline and Policy Resource

Political science as a formal academic discipline emerged in the late 19th century, drawing on older traditions of political philosophy from Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Marx, and consolidating around U.S. and European universities in the early 20th century. The behavioral revolution of the 1950s–60s introduced quantitative and empirical methods; the rational-choice turn followed; and more recently the discipline has been reshaped by the credibility revolution in causal inference, computational social science, and renewed attention to qualitative and interpretive methods. Subfields — comparative politics, international relations, political theory, public administration, and political methodology — increasingly inform policymaking on elections, conflict prevention, governance reform, public health, and climate policy. At the same time, the discipline faces methodological debates over replication, external validity, and the balance between rigor and relevance, alongside political pressures including restrictions on academic freedom in several states and contested funding for social science research. The core issue for international actors is how the evidence and frameworks produced by political science can be responsibly integrated into multilateral policymaking — on democratic resilience, election integrity, conflict early warning, and institutional design — while safeguarding scholarly independence and pluralism across national research ecosystems.

Key players

Politics and Society in an Age of Polarization

The relationship between politics and society — how social cleavages shape political behavior and how political institutions in turn structure social life — is a foundational concern of modern social science, from Tocqueville and Weber to contemporary scholarship on cleavage politics, social movements, and identity. Industrialization, urbanization, expansions of suffrage, the rise of mass parties, and the post-1945 welfare state created the cleavage structures (class, religion, region, urban-rural) that long organized democratic politics in many countries. Those structures have been reshaped by globalization, deindustrialization, large-scale migration, the digital transformation of the public sphere, and changing gender and generational dynamics. Scholars document the rise of affective polarization, declining trust in institutions, the fragmentation of media ecosystems, and the emergence of new social movements — climate activism, Black Lives Matter, MeToo, anti-austerity protests, and right-wing populist mobilization. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified debates over the social contract, state capacity, and the politics of expertise. The central debate is how societies and political systems can sustain inclusive participation, accommodate diverse identities, and rebuild trust in democratic institutions while addressing structural pressures from inequality, technological disruption, and demographic change.

Key players

International Relations in a Multipolar Transition

The study and practice of international relations were institutionalized after World War I, with the founding of the first IR chair at Aberystwyth in 1919 and the creation of the League of Nations. The discipline has been shaped by successive 'great debates' — realism versus idealism, traditionalism versus behavioralism, and rationalism versus constructivism — and by major historical turning points: World War II, decolonization, the Cold War, the 1989–91 transitions, 9/11, and the post-2008 reordering of global power. Contemporary IR is preoccupied with the diffusion of power away from the transatlantic core, the securitization of economic and technological interdependence (semiconductors, critical minerals, AI, energy), climate change as a systemic risk, and the contested legitimacy of multilateral institutions. The war in Ukraine, the Gaza war, U.S.–China strategic competition, and Global South demands for reform of the UN, IMF, and World Bank define the current agenda. Scholars and practitioners increasingly question Eurocentric assumptions in the field and engage with non-Western IR traditions. The core dispute is over what kind of international order is emerging — a renewed liberal order, a Sino-American bipolar system, a genuinely multipolar world, or a fragmented 'à la carte' order — and how diplomacy, law, and institutions should adapt.

Key players

Foreign Policy in an Era of Strategic Competition

Foreign policy — the conduct of relations between a state and external actors — has historically been the prerogative of executives advised by professional diplomatic services, but is increasingly shaped by legislatures, courts, public opinion, and transnational lobbies. The 20th century saw the institutionalization of foreign ministries, intelligence services, and development agencies, alongside the proliferation of summit diplomacy and multilateral forums (G7, G20, BRICS, regional bodies). Three contemporary trends define foreign policy debates. First, the return of geoeconomics: sanctions (against Russia, Iran, the DPRK), export controls (U.S. restrictions on advanced chips to China), industrial policy (the U.S. CHIPS Act, the EU Green Deal Industrial Plan), and 'de-risking' have moved trade and investment to the heart of national security. Second, the emergence of 'middle-power' and 'multi-alignment' strategies, exemplified by India, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, and Brazil, which hedge between competing blocs. Third, the integration of new domains — cyber, space, AI, climate — into traditional foreign-policy machinery. The core dispute is how states should balance values and interests, allies and partners, and openness and security in a more competitive environment, and whether traditional diplomatic norms and instruments remain fit for purpose.

Key players

Comparative Politics and the Global Democratic Recession

Comparative politics — the systematic study of political institutions, behavior, and processes across countries — has long centered on questions of regime type, democratization, state capacity, and political economy. Samuel Huntington's identification of successive 'waves' of democratization, from the 19th-century expansion of suffrage through the post-1974 'third wave' that swept southern Europe, Latin America, parts of Africa, and post-communist Europe, framed late 20th-century debates. The 2011 Arab Uprisings briefly raised hopes for a fourth wave. Since roughly 2006, however, indices from V-Dem, Freedom House, and the Economist Intelligence Unit have recorded a sustained democratic recession, with more countries experiencing autocratization than democratization for over a decade. Comparativists study hybrid regimes, competitive authoritarianism, executive aggrandizement (Hungary, Türkiye, El Salvador), military coups (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Gabon, Myanmar), and the resilience of authoritarian regimes in China, Russia, and the Gulf. Subnational comparison, experimental methods, and the political economy of development have expanded the field substantially. The central debate is whether the global democratic recession reflects a temporary correction or a structural shift, and what institutional designs, civic conditions, and international supports best sustain accountable government across diverse political and economic settings.

Key players

Resources

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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

Conflict Resolution

Media & Press Relations

Advanced Negotiation

The states in play, with the data that shapes their stance

Country dossier

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Pakistan December 2026

By committee

Frequently asked questions

International Conference on Political Sciences and International Relations ICPSAIR

Dec 30–31, 2026Karachi, PakistanIn-person

Registration open

Committees & topics

Topics
Contemporary Drivers of International Conflict · The Shifting Architecture of International Politics · Political Conflicts in a Polarized Era · Political Science as a Discipline and Policy Resource · Politics and Society in an Age of Polarization · International Relations in a Multipolar Transition · Foreign Policy in an Era of Strategic Competition · Comparative Politics and the Global Democratic Recession

Why it matters

How to prepare

Country perspectives

Where the most-relevant 4 countries stand on the core issues in play. Click through for the full country profile.

United States

As the host nation, the United States plays a central role in shaping global political and economic discourse, often serving as a key actor in international relations discussions.

Role in topic

China

China's growing economic and geopolitical influence makes its political science and international relations perspectives crucial for understanding global power shifts and multilateral dynamics.

Role in topic

Russia

Russia's foreign policy and its impact on regional and global security are consistently central to international relations discussions, particularly concerning European security and energy politics.

Role in topic

India

India's emergence as a major global power, coupled with its unique democratic experience, offers valuable insights into South Asian geopolitics and the evolving multipolar world order.

Role in topic