For more than two centuries, the idea of progress has shaped the political imagination of modern societies. Democratization, constitutionalism, economic growth, social protection, technological innovation, and international cooperation were widely seen as, however contested, steps forward.

Today, this confidence appears shaken. The liberal international order is in decline. Democratic backsliding, polarization, and eroding trust in political institutions are widespread. Climate change, artificial intelligence, geopolitical fragmentation, mounting public debt, and widening inequalities seem to strain the capacity of politics to respond effectively. Some observers go so far as to suggest that we may be witnessing the end of progress itself.

But is this diagnosis warranted? Or are we instead experiencing a profound transformation of progress, its drivers, its institutional foundations, and its normative meaning?

The Annual Meeting of the Swiss Political Science Association invites scholars to critically reflect on these questions. Political Science offers indispensable tools for this debate: from the study of international order and democratic resilience to the analysis of technological change, economic restructuring, social conflict, political communication, and the normative foundations of democracy and justice. Drawing on its rich methodological pluralism, including experimental and quantitative research, historical-comparative inquiry, interpretive and ethnographic approaches, normative theory, formal modeling, and computational analysis, the discipline enables us not only to assess claims of decline, but to rethink the conditions under which progress may be sustained or reimagined.