International Association for Political Science Students


The International Association for Political Science Students is a non-profit and politically independent student and junior scholar organization that acts as a global network for political science students; gathering undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students from almost 100 countries. Besides its individual members and association members, since 2018 IAPSS has regional branches in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, USA & Canada, and Oceania.
IAPSS hosts a number of international political science conferences, study trips and a summer school each year dedicated to the professional development of political science students and junior scholars. It has two journals and an online blog called A Different View.

History

The idea of a permanent international political science students' network was first discussed in 1996, when students from Leiden University visited their colleagues in Rome. The first IAPSS General Assembly was held in Leiden, the Netherlands, in 1998, where the Association was founded and legally registered.
During the following years, IAPSS became an institutionalized governing body. In 2003, the headquarters were established in Ljubljana, Slovenia. In 2004, the first annual "Executive Committee" was elected, coordinating programs and services on various levels directly from the Slovenian capital. By 2005, the incorporation of a new association in Slovenia was finalized and succeeded the previous Dutch based body. IAPSS relocated its headquarters to Nijmegen in 2013 and returned to be a Dutch-registered NGO. Based on a resolution taken by the 16th General Assembly 2013 in Rome, Italy, the realization of all portfolio programs are now coordinated from IAPSS' permanent seat, located at Radboud University Nijmegen. The headquarters' relocation was accompanied by a full revision of the statutes and internal regulations of the association.
Currently, IAPSS has more than 600 individual members and 10 association members from almost 100 different countries from all over the world. It holds active relationships with other major political science associations including the International Political Science Association, and the European Consortium for Political Research as well as a range of student-run associations from around the globe such as Young Diplomats. IAPSS also has a partnership with the Asia-Europe Foundation and POLITICO Europe and delegations are sent yearly to the International Studies Association.

Structure

IAPSS maintains a system of multi-level membership, including associations and individual members. Annual elections select the different governing bodies:
The ExCom members coordinate respective departments and are responsible for the execution of the Association’s portfolio. From 1999 to 2004, the Chairperson of the Member Association responsible to organize the annual Academic Conference and General Assembly served also as President of the association. From 1 October 2004, these positions were detached and the IAPSS ExCom were established as a permanent board led by an annually elected president. The Excom is assisted by departmental coordinators who support the board in the execution of its operations.

Executive Committee 2020/2021

PositionPerson
PresidentJustin Patrick
Secretary GeneralArushi Prasad
TreasurerCaroline Rakus-Wojciechowski
Vice President for AcademicsMelis Kırtıllı
Vice President for ProgramsVacant
Vice President for Public RelationsPaola Navarro Villa
Vice President for Regional AffairsMichael Gyekye

Presidents since 1998

YearPresident
1998Matthijs Luijke
1999Halvard Leira
2000Ferenc Pénzes
2001Alessio Sanguinetti
2002Claudiu Craciun
2003Blaž Gorjup
2004Stefan Cibian
& Cornelia Schöler
2004-2005Matija Kovač
2005-2006Yvon Braam
2006-2007Iana Stantieru
2007-2008Alexandros Samaras
2008-2009Alejandro Delmar Injoque
2009-2010Yoana Balchova
2010-2011Luca Martinelli
2011-2012Pedro Manuel Costa
2012-2013Philipp Aepler
2013-2014Philipp Aepler
2014-2015Philipp Aepler
2015-2016Jannick Burggraaff
2016-2017Anna-Lisa Wirth
2017-2018Kateryna Dyshkantyuk
2018-2019Kateryna Dyshkantyuk
2018-2019Tobias Scholz
2019-2020Tobias Scholz
2020-2021Justin Patrick

Events

IAPSS offers its members a broad range of congresses, conventions, winter/summer schools and study trips. Until 2015 the Annual Conference and General Assembly had been the principal event of the association, held yearly and organized by the members of the association. In 2015, the Annual Conference was replaced by the IAPSS World Congress.
Currently, IAPSS organises at least two academic conferences annually. The biggest conference, the IAPSS World Congress, is held in a different city each spring. The smaller IAPSS Autumn Convention is held in autumn.

Annual Conferences and General Assemblies 1998-2014

YearCityTitle
1998LeidenThe Foundation Conference
1999OsloEuropean Security beyond 2000
2000DebrecenNations and Minorities
2001RomeHumankind and Globalisation
2002BucharestNew Europe: The Quest for Identity and Legitimacy
2003LjubljanaNew Wind
2004MarburgGood Knowledge: Education as an Object of Trade
2005MoscowThe End of the Transition Paradigm
2006AmsterdamGlobal Crime
2007AmsterdamGlobalising Citizenship
2008ThessalonikiThe Future of Governance in the 21st Century
2009LjubljanaThe Future of Political Science
2010LeidenWater Politics
2011LisbonWorld Leadership
2012BremenThe States they are A-changing
2013RomeGlobal Justice
2014BucharestCollective Action Problems in the Contemporary World

World Congress for Political Science Students 2014-2020

The annual World Congress for Political Science Students is IAPSS' largest event. It takes place in spring on an annual base. The 1st World Congress was held in 2014 and it incorporated a large-scale international political science conference.
YearCityTitle
2014ThessalonikiThe Limits to Global Governance
2015LondonCooperation, Conflict and Security
2016BerlinChallenging Democracy
2017BudapestThe Meaning of Politics
2018ParisDiversity and Globalisation
2019MadridOvercoming Injustice
2020ViennaDemocracy, Identity, and Power

Academic Conferences

Academic Conferences 2006-2020
Regional Conferences
YearCityTypeTitle
2000MarburgIAPSS Regional ConferencePost Cold War Europe
2001BucharestIAPSS Regional ConferenceThe Bridges Network
2002LjubljanaIAPSS Regional ConferenceGood Morning Terrorism
2003ReykjavíkIAPSS Regional ConferenceGlobalization and National Identity
2004LeidenIAPSS Regional Conference for Northern EuropeEuropean Integration
2005Bern/ZurichIAPSS Regional ConferenceNeutrality in International Context: Good, Bad or just Making Rich?
2019StockholmIAPSS Regional ConferencePaths towards Climate Justice
Autumn Conventions 2014-2018
YearCityTitle
2014NijmegenUniversality of Human Rights in the 21st Century
2015PragueNew Threats to Security
2017QuitoHuman Mobility
2017BremenTruth and Politics
2018SingaporeRethinking Development: Innovative Policies for Social and Economic Advancement

Other events: Winter / Summer Schools and study trips

The IAPSS Winter / Summer School is an intensive week held twice a year with students from political science and related disciplines and it focuses on regional issues.
YearCityTypeTitle
2004HelsinkiIAPSS Nordic ConferenceThe Role of Nordic Cooperation in Enlarging Europe
2004Cluj-NapocaIAPSS Summer SchoolReinforcing IAPSS Team
2006Rome"Old, New and Future Europe" ConferencesEurope – Plurality of the Identities
2006Ljubljana"Old, New and Future Europe" ConferencesEurope in the World
2006Bucharest"Old, New and Future Europe" ConferencesFurther European Enlargement
2007LjubljanaIAPSS International SeminarYouth Bridging the Gap: Reaching out to the Roma
2008LjubljanaIAPSS Going GreenConfronting Energy and Climate Change Policies

IAPSS' Publications

IAPSS POLITIKON

Politikon is an open-access journal founded in 2001. It is the flagship publication of IAPSS and it is published quarterly.
IAPSS Politikon publishes articles from all major subfields of political science and is open to submissions from neighboring disciplines. Each article is reviewed by a double blind peer-review process, handled primarily by researchers who are part of the journal’s reviewer database.

Encuentro Latinoamericano

Encuentro Latinoamericano: Revista de Ciencia Politica is a peer-reviewed, student-run publication that focuses on Latin American politics. It follows the same guidelines as POLITIKON. Articles are published in English, Spanish and Portuguese, and they are all accompanied by English abstracts. ELA is published online twice a year, in April and October.

A Different View

A Different View is the Association's popular-scientific online blog. Founded in 2005 as a monthly online magazine and relaunched as a blog in July 2013, ADV deals with a wide range of topics within political theory, foreign policy and international relations.

IAPSS Partners