This article analyzes the key challenges faced by political science in the context of the 28th World Congress of the International Political Science Association (IPSA), held in Seoul from July 12 to 16, 2025. Through the lens of the Congress’s central theme — resisting autocratization in polarized societies — the author explores the institutional role of political science, its epistemological responsibility, and its public duty. The article highlights: (1) the conceptual debates on the nature of contemporary autocracy at the Congress; (2) the role of the sociological dimension in contemporary political science; (3) institutional practices of inclusion and public engagement; (4) the experience of a Ukrainian scholar participating in several key Congress formats — presentation, panel, and roundtable; (5) the dilemmas of representation, language, and academic autonomy for the Ukrainian academic community. The IPSA World Congress 2025 emerges as a symptomatic event for political science — and the social sciences more broadly — serving as a space where not only research agendas are shaped, but also new forms of global epistemic subjectivity are being constructed.
Oleksii Iakubin (Tue,) studied this question.