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The NZPSA has strong links with all the political studies departments and programmes in Aotearoa New Zealand, has its own research magazine, Women Talking Politics, and has had a long affiliation with the journal Political Science.
We also have links with the Australian, UK and Canadian PSAs. See our International PSA Benefits and Awards for further details on the various awards and benefits available to members.
To contact us please see the committee list, and to post information about job opportunities, upcoming conferences, or other newsworthy items send details to ad***@nz***.nz.
The New Zealand Political Studies Association | Te Kāhui Tātai Tōrangapū o Aotearoa was formed in Christchurch in September 1974. The first conference of the Association was held in Wellington in May 1976. It then met in Auckland in August 1977, and held its third conference in Christchurch in May 1980. Since then it has developed into an annual conference that is held on a rotational basis at the different universities in New Zealand. In 2011, the inaugural Postgraduate Pre-Conference Workshop was held and it has now turned into an annual event. In 2015, the NZPSA adopted a new Constitution, and became an incorporated society and a constitutent member of the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi.
For a number of years the NZPSA was an affiliate of the Australasian Political Studies Association (APSA). This affiliation gave the NZPSA the right to elect a member to the APSA executive and led to the joint holding of the NZPSA and APSA Conferences at the University of Canterbury in 1999 and at the University of Otago in 2005. When the APSA AGM voted in 2007 to transform itself into the Australian Political Studies Association this affiliation came to an end, although links with APSA have been maintained and are currently being strengthened. We continue to provide members’ rates at each others’ conferences and reciprocal postgraduate awards for conference attendance.
The NZPSA is a DEMOCRATIC organisation with a strong commitment to EQUITY. It aims to overcome barriers to traditionally UNDER-REPRESENTED GROUPS and promotes fair treatment for all those in political studies.
The Association awards an annual prizes. These are for an alternating prize for the best journal paper or book chapter (2025), or the best peer-reviewed book (2026), the best postgraduate conference paper on New Zealand Politics, the best postgraduate paper in the field of environmental politics and policy, the best postgraduate paper in any other field of political studies, the best undergraduate paper in a course on New Zealand domestic politics, and the best undergraduate paper on Māori politics. See the prizes page for further details.
