1997
The 17th IPSA World Congress of Political Science was held in Seoul, South Korea from 17 to 21 August 1997. It was the first World Congress in Asia in the history of IPSA. The event attracted 1,470 participants from 72 countries, not including staff and exhibitors. The event’s main theme was “Conflict and Order". The Congress program included 963 papers presented in 238 sessions.
For the first time, IPSA published a preliminary program for the World Congress to better manage the large number of participants and increasing IPSA membership. The program aimed to give all participants an overview of the 1997 World Congress by presenting IPSA's contributions to political science, the general theme of the Congress, and the scheduled events. This included a brief history of IPSA's contributions to the field.
The Congress itself is, of course, a gigantic organizational undertaking. A local organization committee has already been working on this for almost five years. The present preliminary programme is the first major fruit of their endeavours. It represents an important innovation for IPSA, listing all panels and paper givers in the form in which they are now known to the organizers.
John Coakley,
IPSA Secretary-General (1994-2000)
