Summary: Development of political science in Latvia is connected with political changes in society in East Central Europe at the end of 1980s. In this paper there is a short overview of history of Latvian political science. In this paper, the authors analyse the stages of development of political science as an academic discipline in Latvia. Because political science is a new discipline in Latvia, the period between 2000 and 2010 cannot be examined separately from the origins of political science at the time when Latvian restored its independence. The origins of political science, thus, are a point of reference in drawing essential conclusions about the development of political science after 2000.

The authors have made use of publicly available information, as well as interviews with professor Žaneta Ozoliņa from the University of Latvia, as well as with Einars Semanis, who established the Department of Political Science at the university.

The academic discipline of political science between 2000 and 2010 has not been studied before, although there are several articles about the period of time between the original emergence of political science and 2000.

In this paper, the authors will focus on changes in political science and at universities which offer courses therein. The authors will also look at the number of students during this period and the fields of research that have been important. They will draw conclusions about factors that limited or facilitated political science between 2000 and 2010.