European Political Science Society
The European Political Science Society (EPSS) was founded in 2025 as the non-profit alternative to the European Political Science Association (EPSA). EPSA has made a hugely important contribution to political science in Europe and the community owes a great debt of gratitude to the three EPSA founders for launching this initiative. However, EPSA’s formal structure created serious problems. In particular, EPSA decision-making power rested not with the EPSA Council, but with EPS Academic Ltd (EPSAL), a private company whose directors were not accountable to the membership and who benefited from financially from the profits generated by EPSA activities. This structure has prevented EPSA from realizing the full potential of what a member-driven organization can offer.
Even though various EPSA governance reform working groups tried to implement a successful governance reform over a five-year period, it proved impossible to get EPSAL’s consent to such a reform. In June 2025, the EPSA Council therefore voted to transition to a new not-for-profit organization called “European Political Science Society”. EPSS, like most professional associations in political science and the broader social sciences, operates as a not-for-profit entity and has been registered in the UK as a community interest corporation as “European Political Science CIC.” To get the new organization of the ground, most members of the EPSA Council, including the EPSA president, president-elect, elected members of the Council, ombudsperson, and diversity officer, following the advice of the EPSA Reform Working Group, have taken up equivalent positions in EPSS.
EPSS is committed to realizing the broader potential of our community: offering a wider range of initiatives designed to serve and support its members throughout all stages of their academic careers. The not-for-profit structure makes it possible to continue EPSA’s core activity, the annual conference, but under a transparent, accountable, and not-for-profit structure. With a focus on member interests, we are hoping to launch new activities including prizes recognizing research excellence, travel support for members in need, small grants for innovation, and targeted support for the professional development of early-career scholars. All revenue from the new association will be reinvested into supporting political science scholarship in Europe and beyond, rather than being paid out as dividends to shareholders.
The European Political Science Society is a non-profit, member-run association of political scientists, formed in 2025 by the governing council of the European Political Science Association. Read more
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