International Political Anthropology (IPA) was born in Florence on a November morning in 2007. It was born out of a twofold recognition. First, although an increasing number of anthropologists today consider themselves ‘political anthropologists’, this growing subfield does not have a journal of its own. Second, it seems clear by now that institutional accounts of politics within the frame of the state have exhausted their capability to provide meaningful accounts of contemporary events. There is thus a need to explore more systematically how anthropologically inspired approaches can renew the political and social sciences, broadly speaking.

In order to stimulate interest in this new product, we have chosen to publish the first edition of the Journal gratis. Feel free to circulate the product. It is our hope that this first issue will stimulate interest in the Journal, and will inspire scholars and their institutions to subscribe to the Journal. We also hope that scholars around the world will consider to submit their work to IPA.

For any further inquiries or comments about this Journal, feel free to contact us.

We hope that you will enjoy the reading!

Agnes Horvath, Bjørn Thomassen, Harald Wydra.