Recap of the IPSA World Congress - Day 1 (10 July)

Opening Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony of the 26th IPSA World Congress of Political Science began with the welcoming speech of IPSA Executive Director and master of ceremony, Kim Fontaine-Skronski, who welcomed Congress delegates, Program Co-Chairs, the Local Organizing Committee, partners, and exhibitors. Dr. Fontaine-Skronski announced that 2,854 delegates from all over the world are participating in the 26th edition of the World Congress, making it the second largest in attendance in IPSA’s history.

She pointed out that the virtual format created opportunities to launch a second call for proposals that allowed the participation of hundreds of new delegates who would not have been able to travel to Lisbon, but were able to attend in a virtual mode, to send an international call for volunteers welcoming 84 of them, and finally introduce an Observer registration category that includes a free one-day pass for IPSA members that do not have a role in the program.

Dr. Fontaine-Skronski then introduced IPSA President, Marianne Kneuer, who thanked the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) and its Co-Chairs Carlos Jalali and Madalena Meyer Resende for their commitment and excellent work:

“They have overcome the multiple challenges that led us on this exciting Congress program that achieves to continue our global mission, which is to present opportunities for academic exchange and to connect and build networks across continents.”

New Nationalisms in an Open World is the official Congress theme developed by the Program Co-Chairs, Bertrand Badie and Hasret Dikici Bilgin. This central and complex theme is more relevant than ever as domestic and global political developments have increased. The COVID-19 pandemic strengthened nationalist policy. However, the pandemic also revealed the power of international cooperation, and this complexity allows us to develop, discuss publicly and draw a path to solve nationalism and its global implications.

Prof. Dr. Kneuer also thanked and recognized all the hard work made by the Program Co-Chairs, the  Research Committees and Session Chairs, and the Secretariat staff in Montreal under the leadership of Kim Fontaine-Skronski.

In conclusion, the IPSA President invited IPSA delegates to the next World Congress that will be held at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina in July 2023. The Congress will be organized in collaboration with the Argentine Society of Political Analysis (SAAP) and will have a strong presence from the political science communities of the Americas.

Prof. Dr. Kneuer then proceeded to honour Prof. Guy Lachapelle. As IPSA’s longest-serving Secretary-General (2000-2020), Prof. Lachapelle’s name is linked to the most impressive period of growth in the history of IPSA. Under his leadership, the Association established its permanent Secretariat in Montreal in 2006, its membership more than doubled, and IPSA saw all-time highs in World Congress participation among many other accomplishments. The IPSA family is grateful for his long-standing commitment to the organization’s growth and development.

Prof. Lachapelle talked about his journey with IPSA that started in 1995 when he was elected the President of the Quebec Political Science Association and brought the 2000 IPSA World Congress, which he described as “the Olympics of Political Science,” to Quebec City, Canada. “My only goal was to serve you, help national associations to grow, and find a place for IPSA to pursue a fruitful dialogue with colleagues from all over the world.

In his speech, Program Co-Chair Bertrand Badie discussed the Congress theme and elaborated his views on the history of nationalism. According to him, in contrast to the previous century, nationalism doesn’t rhyme anymore with emancipation or a practice of liberty. The new nationalism is different, and it’s not targeting emancipation but choosing preservation instead. Professor Badie encouraged the audience to analyze this new concept because of its impact in all Political Science fields.

After Prof. Badie’s presentation , the LOC Co-Chairs, Prof. Madalena Meyer Resende and Dr. Carlos Jalali were invited to participate in the ceremony. Dr. Jalali talked about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the organization of the Congress and how the LOC Committee was disappointed by not being able to hold it in Lisbon, where it could have been “a historical event.” On the other hand, Prof.  Resende reassured that, even if this edition is being held in a virtual format, the Congress shows the diversity and vitality of the Political Science community worldwide.

The Opening Ceremony also featured a Keynote Address by the Portuguese Minister of State and Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva. In his address, Minister Silva summarized his views regarding new nationalisms under five main points:

1. Political scientists need to study and know more about nations and nationalism to understand better and compare different historical events such as revolutions in Europe in the 19th century. There is a close relationship between nationalism, revolutions and nation-building;
2. Every process of nation-building is specific. For instance, after their independence, Portugal’s colonies Angola and Mozambique chose to keep the colonial language as an instrument for their nation-building process;
3. Nations are imaginary communities, and the process of nation-building is a never-ending reality. This applies to even profoundly consolidated nations such as the USA, Brazil and Chile;
4. Nation is not a concept belonging to the past but relevant to our present;
5. To extend our understanding of new nationalism, political scientists need to diversify our approach and have a cosmopolitan approach. The current nationalist approach denies openness, diversity and multiculturalism. If we better understand nationalism, we will perhaps be stronger in fighting these challenges.

Mattei Dogan Award Lecture

The Prize of the Foundation Mattei Dogan awarded by the International Political Science Association for High Achievement in Political Science is to honour scholars of high international reputation in recognition of their contribution to the advancement of political science, with a particular focus on recognizing outstanding scholarship on comparative studies of political elites.

Chaired by Executive Committee (EC) member Pablo Oñate, this award session gathered two leading scholars.

The 2018 Prize of the Foundation Mattei Dogan awarded by the International Political Science Association for High Achievement in Political Science recipient, James Scott, who postponed his award lecture to the 2021 IPSA World Congress, discussed human interventions on rivers and their implications. His presentation, titled “In Praise of Floods,” indicated that rivers are actually living organisms: They are born, move, merge or die. However, exploiting them by building big dams, changing their courses or depleting them for irrigation affects the nature and creatures that depend on them. As Prof. Scott puts it, the result is usually a disaster.  

Maurizio Ferrera, the recipient of the 2021 Prize of the Foundation Mattei Dogan awarded by the International Political Science Association for High Achievement in Political Science recipient, also gave a lecture, titled “The EU as an Experimental Polity-builder - Lessons from the Crisis Decade and Post-pandemic Prospects.” In his lecture, Prof. Ferrera focused on the EU and its ability to deal with the current and future crisis including Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic, border controls, the EU enlargement in the Balkans etc.

The Globalization Debate: Twenty Years After

Chaired by IPSA Executive Director Dr. Kim Fontaine-Skronski and Dr. Stéphane Paquin from École nationale d'administration publique, Canada, this General Session focused on the current state of the debate on globalization. 

In his presentation, titled Are there still Globalization’s skeptics? The Globalization Debate: Twenty Years After, Dr. Paquin talked about the Globalization skeptics and their arguments such as “semi-Globalization”. He also discussed the impact of multinational corporations and the state of international trade.

Next, Dr. Jonathan Perraton, from the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, presented a research paper titled Globalisation after the Financial Crisis: Structural Change and the Reconfiguration of Geography. Dr. Perraton focused on the recent trends on Globalization, the global impact on incomes and inequality and the future of Globalization in the Post-COVID era. 

Finally, the discussant of the session Dr. Roberto Zepeda, from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México talked about the perceptions of Globalization and contemporary trends including the nationalist trend. 
 

Special Session: Research Funding Café

“Café events” have been part of the IPSA World Congress program that provides specific training, especially to young scholars and students. Organized by IPSA EC member Umut Korkut, the Research Funding Café session discussed and identified funding opportunities for research projects in Political Science.

Prof. Korkut launched the session by describing his academic career, interests, and further research in relation to Political Science. He is currently a professor of International Politics at Glasgow School and has expertise in Hungarian and Turkish politics, but enlarged his academic interests into political discourses, European politics, and grants applications.

The Café was held on a Q&A basis to best answer the questions of participants wishing to apply for future grants. Prof. Korkut discussed the transatlantic and European Union grants. The European Research Council (ERC) grant and the Marie Curie grant were the most highlighted ones during his talk. He contrasted them in terms of leadership learning where the ERC grant expected you to have a lead role, in opposition to the Marie Curie grant that provides you with the tools to achieve several academic works preparing you for post-graduate research.

The key points that Prof. Korkut insisted on were how English grammar has to be perfect when filling out any application form.. Grant’s agencies want to see that you are willing to take risks even if you may fail. “Be brave” and “don’t be intimidated by research.”

Special Session: Diversity and Inclusion in the Discipline: Roundtable on Research Agendas and Approaches

Chaired by IPSA Vice President Prof. Yasmeen Abu-Laban and Executive Committee member Umut Korkut, this roundtable gathered prominent scholars worldwide: Dr. Kiera Ladner Canada, Prof. Angelia Wilson (UK), Prof. Christopher Isike (South Africa) and Dr. Enzo Lenine (Brazil)

Prof. Abu-Laban introduced the session and addressed themes of gender and diversity in the discipline. Indeed, three years ago, the IPSA changed its constitution and elaborated a major action plan: the inclusion of gender and diversity topics in the 2021 World Congress.

Prof. Ladner from Manitoba University was the first to speak at the roundtable and explored diverse themes including indigenous studies, women’s governance and conscientious building.

Prof. Wilson from the University of Manchester echoed the previous speech and approached the discipline by observing how her colleagues behaved with regard to diversity and inclusion. The first point she made was about power, and how it defines knowledge. Secondly, she pointed out how difficult it is to choose a specific subject in the discipline. Finally, she observed that women are increasingly more included in the discipline.

IPSA Vice President Prof. Isike emphasized the need to have more diverse subjects in Political Science. According to him, diversity research can’t be divided from racial research.

Finally, Dr. Lenine presented a statistical approach to diversity and inclusion in the discipline. He hierarchized knowledge, methodologies, number of publications and specialized his research in the Latin American area. He pointed out that research papers written by men are more published than the ones written by women.

Contributing editor: Angelina Parmentier