The 2021 IPSA World Congress a Resounding Success!

The 2021 IPSA World Congress of Political Science was presented virtually for the first time in IPSA's 72 years history, from 10 to 15 July 2021. The 26th edition of IPSA’s flagship event attracted extraordinary attention from the academic community with over 2,850 participants from 100 countries sharing their research on the theme of New Nationalisms in an Open World. IPSA is proud to announce that, despite the challenges from the pandemic and the transition to a virtual event, this Congress had the second-highest registration in IPSA's history after the 2012 World Congress in Madrid. Additionally, the delegates from the Global South made up 19 percent of the total participants. This is very promising news that aligns with IPSA's key missions to assist the development of the study of politics in the Global South.

The Congress saw a record number of papers, 2,559 in total, integrated into over 600 panels, included three Plenary Sessions, 13 Special Sessions and 5 Award Sessions. The Congress program included general sessions around the major sub-literatures of Political Science and the Research Committee sessions brought together the specialist areas, staging 449 of all panels. The program Co-Chairs also contacted scholars working on different aspects of new nationalisms to create Congress Theme sessions. The Congress integrated the biannual conference of the Portuguese Political Science Association which held 52 panels in total, organized by the Local Organizing Committee (LOC).

A word of thanks goes to all World Congress participants and session chairs, as well as the LOC in Lisbon and the tireless volunteers from 28 countries worldwide who helped make the 2021 IPSA Virtual World Congress a great success.

We also extend our heartfelt gratitude to the partners and exhibitors who made this year’s event possible.