12th Annual Conference / Tag der Politikwissenschaft

As societies are undergoing profound transformations, states are both subject to change and agents of change. The preeminence of algorithms, security threats old and new, and economic pressures that strain democracy and welfare are reshaping how people live, interact, and make sense of the world. States are called upon not only to respond to these shifts, but also to make sense of them, manage their consequences, and, where possible, shape their direction. But how well are our politics – institutions, parties, policies, practices, and norms – adapting?
For the 2026 Annual Conference, we invite contributions that interrogate the capacity of states to respond effectively to societal transformations. Do they possess the necessary recipes, resources, and adaptive capacities? And is our discipline equipped with the conceptual and methodological tools to adequately address these dynamics? The conference seeks to explore not only how politics responds to transformation, but also how transformation reshapes state capacity and the very boundaries and possibilities of the political. States process change, and in doing so, they themselves are changing.