International Political Science Association IPSA

International Political Science Association (IPSA) 

one of the largest international scholarly organizations. IPSA was created in 1949 at the initiative of UNESCO, under whose auspices it operates. It consists of national political science associations of 36 countries, including seven socialist countries (the USSR, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Rumania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia), more than 200 associate members (universities and research institutes in the member-countries), and a large number of individual members.

The association’s principal function is to hold international political science congresses, once every three years, and annual round-table meetings. There have been a total often congresses, the last held in 1976 in Edinburgh. Issues discussed at these congresses have included the influence of political theory on political practice, the role of political parties, the typology of contemporary political systems, and the political role of international organizations. Other topics have included the role of women in politics, ways of resolving international disputes, federalism in the modern world, political behavior, and young people and politics. At the eighth congress (Munich, 1970), a special plenary session was devoted to V. I. Lenin as a political thinker, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Lenin’s birth.

The highest body of IPSA is the council, in which each national association has one to three seats. The council elects a secretary-general and an executive committee of 16 members for a term of three years. The IPSA publishes the quarterly International Political Science Abstracts and the annual International Bibliography of Political Science.

The Soviet Association of Political Science, founded in 1955 by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, is a national group member of IPSA. Its objectives include promotion of the development of political science in a democratic and progressive spirit and the strengthening of mutual understanding and international cooperation among political scientists. The association seeks to familiarize the public with current issues in political science by holding scholarly meetings and conferences and by publishing articles and scholarly reports. It also seeks to acquaint scholarly circles and the general public abroad with the development of political organization in socialist society.