IPSA Companion to Political Science: A Practical Introduction to the 200 Most Important Concepts (Springer, 2025) 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.
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From the Introduction Section
To reflect the most studied phenomena in the discipline, we have organized the entries in this companion by the frequency of each concept’s usage over the past 10 years, starting with the most frequently used concept. We have asked leading scholars working on each concept to write a 1000-word entry discussing that concept. When inviting scholars to collaborate, we gave particular attention to ensuring gender balance, ethnic diversity, representation of both established and emerging scholars, as well as a mix of voices from both the Global North and Global South. This encyclopedia includes over 250 authors from approximately 30 countries, spanning from North America (Canada, the United States), South America (e.g., Mexico, Colombia, Brazil) to Europe (e.g., Ireland, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Croatia) to Africa (e.g., South Africa, Egypt), Asia (e.g., India, Japan, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates), and Australia. The contributors include an almost equal number of men and women. By inviting authors from diverse backgrounds, we wanted to ensure the representation of a variety of backgrounds.
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 (IPSR).
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 the 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.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-06918-4
eBook ISBN: 978-3-032-06918-4
Publisher: Springer
