IPSA Releases New Open-Access Companion to Political Science

Fifteen years after the publication of the International Encyclopedia of Political Science, IPSA has released an open-access reference book titled IPSA Companion to Political Science: A Practical Introduction to the 200 Most Important Concepts (Springer, 2025). This comprehensive volume examines the use of the 200 most central concepts in political science over the past decade, offering an accessible and up-to-date guide for scholars, students, and practitioners.

The respective contributions demonstrate how each concept has been used in the most cited works by political scientists from around the world and are complemented by a bibliography with the 20 most cited texts in the field. Written by leading scholars and experts in each area, the entries provide a comprehensive, comparative, and accessible overview of the different uses of the concept. 

The book offers an authoritative and indispensable open resource for the interested public, policymakers, and students and scholars of political science and related disciplines. 

The first 48 entries present a wide range of foundational concepts in the field, including Authoritarianism, Democracy, Elections, Federalism, Gender, Governance, Human Rights, Immigration, Nationalism, Polarization, Populism, and Public Policy.

Read the full book here.

About the editors

Daniel Stockemer is Konrad Adenauer Research Chair in Empirical Democracy Studies at the University of Ottawa (Canada) and Editor of the International Political Science Review, IPSA’s flagship journal.

Stephen Sawyer is Ballantine-Leavitt Professor of History and Director of the Center for Critical Democracy Studies at the American University in Paris (France) and Editor of IPSA’s International Political Science Abstracts.

Audrey Gagnon is an Assistant Professor at the School of Political Studies at the University of Ottawa. She is also affiliated with the Center for Research on Extremism at the University of Oslo.