The organisational evolution of political science: the international dimension

The organisational development of political science, like that of other disciplines, owes much to an initiative on the part of UNESCO in the late 1940s to place the social sciences on a secure institutional footing. This article considers the context in which the International Political Science Association was founded in 1949. It examines the trends in the development of the discipline that preceded this event: the ancient intellectual roots of political science, and the surprisingly recent period at which this subject established its legitimacy on the university syllabus. The establishment of professional organisations within the discipline took place much later, and at a very uneven pace globally. The article looks in greater detail at the process by which the need for an international political science organisation was identified, describes the circumstances that led to the foundation of such a body, and assesses its early contribution to the development of the discipline.