Introduction

French political science has been the subject of several studies over the last few years. Scholars have investigated its history (e.g. Deloye, 2009; Boncourt, 2007), collected data on its current state (e.g. Favre, 1996; Blondiaux and Deloye, 2007; Deloye and Mayer, 2008) and assessed its strengths, weaknesses and future prospects. This increase in the number of available studies signals a revival of scientific interest in the history of the social sciences and the dynamics of knowledge circulation. However, it also hints at the strain the profession is currently placed under: in the context of a rapidly evolving French higher education landscape, political science faces challenges that could jeopardise its position and even lead to its progressive “de-institutionalisation” (Deloye and Mayer, 2008).

This article is a part of this collective effort to gather data on the discipline's history and current state. It strongly relies on previous studies cited above and aims to provide up-to-date information on the institutional and scientific structure of French political science. It has two main sections. The first focuses on the history of the discipline and briefly describes its evolutions since the late 19th century, with particular emphasis on post-World War II developments. The second section focuses on contemporary evolutions and describes the way in which the discipline's structures have been altered by higher education reforms in the early 21st century.